Party Plans
by kasey1939
Summary: When Klaus hears that the Mystic Falls gang are planning a party he's curious about what they're up to so he gets himself invited. Sort of.
1. truth

**A/N - This story is slightly AU, it takes place just after Bonnie's mom is turned by Damon but before Alaric is turned into a super evil vampire killing machine by Ester.**

Klaus looked down at the latest body he inhabited and flexed his muscles a bit to try and get used to it. This was after all a first, even for him, but it was still wholely neccessary. He needed to find answers and this was the only way he was going to be able to do that, so as always he did what was needed to be done in order to achieve his goals.

Stepping up to the door of the Forbes residence he raised his new hand to knock, which wasn't neccessary because right before making contact the door flew open and only his sharp reflexs kept him from accidentally hitting the doppleganger in the face. Not that he would have found anything wrong with that, in fact maybe he should have done it and then blamed his slow human reflexs for the slip? She did deserve it after all, she was always the one messing up his plans with her band of merry sunshine friends. Dropping his hand to his side he conceded if only to himself that maybe he was still a bit bitter about her role in his becoming a hybrid. The wench had caused him unending frustration by not being dead after all.

Putting such dark thoughts aside he summoned up an easy friendly smile for her which she returned with vigor, after all it wasn't Klaus standing at the door, at least not that she could see.

"Come on in Bonnie, we're just getting started."

Perfect timing then, as always.

Stepping over the threshold he muttered his apologies to the doppleganger as the witch would have done.

"Sorry I'm late Elena, it's just harder to get out of the house these days."

He watched the dopplegangers face fall her eyes filled with sarrow and he waited for her reaction to his vague excuse. He wasn't all together surprised when she slipped her arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a sideways hug.

"We all are so sorry about Abbey, but things are starting to get better right? I mean your dad's back in town and that's good right, even if you are on house arrest most of the time. Now come on, enough with the doom and gloom that isn't what this party is for."

That was the question though wasn't it. What was this "party" for? When he overheard the planning of it by the three girls he'd thought nothing of it at first, just a girls night as Rebekah would say. Then he overheard Caroline questioning why Damon Salvatore was invited and that peaked his interest, the witch didn't even like the elder Salvatore so why include him in her party plans? A little more digging got him the entire guest list of Caroline, Elena, Bonnie, Stefan, Damon, Jeremy, Matt and Tyler.

"Now, the boys aren't here yet so we're helping Caroline finish getting all the snacks ready in the kitchen you can be in charge of organizing the booze alright?"

"Sure, whatever I can do to help."

Making sure to keep his pace human slow so as not to arouse suspicion he followed Elena to the kitchen, mentally rolling his eyes, he couldn't wait for this party to be over and done with already. However, there was one shining light in this pit of dark boredom and he was about to see her again, his Caroline.

"Hey Bon, we're almost done here. The booze is on the table behind you, just group all the different kinds together please. You know vodka with vodka, beer with beer, not that I know why I'm even trying we all know the boys are going to do a spur of the moment liquor run all there own and when they get here they'll just destroy everything, but I live in hope that maybe just maybe that won't happen this time."

"Well, prepare to have those hopes dashed Care I just got a text from Jeremy and guess where the boys are."

He watched as Caroline lightly beat her head against the counter top repeatedly slowly muttering "why" again and again.

"Come on Care it won't be that bad, if nothing else that's just extra booze you get to stash away for next time. Now since my chores are done I'm gonna run upstairs and shower and get changed before the boys arrive since they'll be at least another half hour."

"Alright."

His own task done he waited for the doppleganger to make her way up the stairs before he turned to sit at the counter opposite Caroline. This wasn't just the perfect opportunity to learn their latest plan against him, no he could also learn a few other interesting things.

"You alright there Care? You don't seem as enthusiastic about this party as normal-ly?" He caught himself just before he could call her love, no need to ruin everything before anything even began. He'd have to watch that around her.

"I know it's just... a lot of things."

Vague, alright he could work with vague.

"Like what? Come on Care, you're my best friend no matter what you tell me I won't judge you or tell anyone else if you don't want me to." There that was appropriately female wasn't it.

"For one Damon's coming. You know I don't like him in my house any more than neccessary and... and I don't find this neccessary." The more she talked to more agitated she became, something was really bothering her. Now he was concerned, what could it possibly be?

"Come on, spell it out for me, it's just the two of us here and it might help you to say it before the others arrive." Hoping that worked he waited with baited breath while she fidgeted with the napkins in front of her.

"Alright, but you tell no one, and I mean no one!"

"Understood, you have my word whatever you say to me now won't ever be repeated." He wouldn't break his word either, he would never repeat it, he would just know it.

"I still get really nervous around Damon, not that I think I couldn't take him in a fight cause I totally could and have for that matter but Elena may have forgiven him for everything he did when he first got to town because she's gone all gaga for the other brother now, but I haven't. Honestly, I don't think it's fair that everyone just expects me to be fine with it all!"

She was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to agree with her, or no wait... she wasn't waiting for Bonnie to agree, the look she was giving was of someone waiting to be told off or shut down. She was aprehensive. He wanted so bad to reassure her, to let her know that no matter what he was on her side but, he wasn't himself right now and it didn't appear that she was expecting Bonnie to side with her on this and he had a part to play for the moment. So what would the little witch say?

"Caroline, I know you hate Damon, so do I." That was true enough the witch seemed to hate nearly anyone with fangs, his beloved Caroline seemingly the only exception. "But, he does seem to truly care about Elena."

The look of resignation on Caroline's face told him he got the answer right, of course he did the only thing this rag tag group ever cared about was upstairs right now in the shower. Anyone else's problems or concerns about the risks they were taking in her name were seemingly ignored or just swept aside as unimportant.

"You're right Bon, who cares what he's done as long as he cares about Elena."

She looked so hurt, he desperately wanted to know what Damon had done when he got to town to put that look in her eyes even now. Knowing what he knew of the elder Salvatore it was most likely something he would want to kill the man for.

He watched her tilt her head again as if straining to hear something.

"Well, Elena's out of the shower and dressed now so she'll be down in a minute, and I can hear the boys about a block away so they should be here by the time she gets down. Enough with the pity party for two, looks like the real fun's about to begin."

She looked for all the world like she wanted nothing more than to be able to bar them all from her home and just not take part in what was to come. He watched her though closer than he was ever able to before and in an instant she took a deep breathe closing her eyes and when she opened them again all signs of her distress were gone. Buried under the forced good cheer and strong independant nature that was her battle armour. Yes the real fun's about to begin indeed.

It didn't take them long once they were all together for the true purpose of their little meeting to come to light, Damon Salvatore was nothing if not loud and open with his opinions. The man never had a thought he didn't seem to want to share with the group.

"So down to business, what are we going to do now about our Original problem?" Just like he thought this wasn't a party it was a strategy meeting. They were still planning on coming after him.

"Why do we have to do anything?" Or maybe not all of them then. He looked over at his angel and saw her nervous tics begin again. She was biting her lip as though she were reprimanding herself for speaking up at all. When every head turned her direction and gave her equal looks of disbelief and betrayal he understood why. They acted like she just said she wanted to kill them instead.

"What was that Barbie?" Oh, Damon, the reason's why he detested the man just kept mounting higher and higher.

He watched her take a breathe as if to steady herself before a coming seige before pushing through and making sure her opinion was known just as much as everyone else's. That's my girl.

"I just don't see why we have to do this." She stopped for a moment before looking towards the group seemingly afraid of their reactions, like she thought they would turn on her for speaking up. "I mean yeah sure when the whole sacrafice thing was going on I understood it, we had to save Elena's life if we could right? But that's over now and Klaus needs her alive, and while yeah sure being a walking blood bag for the rest of her life would like totally suck I know, but she would have a rest of her life. Plus, Klaus would only pop in like once a month for a 'donation' which all things considered wouldn't be that bad. I know no one else agrees with me but I think going after Klaus now would just be stupid, short sighted, and kind of suicidal."

He had to agree with her, it was suicidal for her friends, and if they persisted the only ones to survive would be Elena and Caroline. What would Bonnie say? Oh, right.

"Care, I get what you're saying but you heard Damon." Yes, they had all heard Damon, that rebellious loud mouth little urchin never kept his opinions to himself after all. Far too much bravado for one still so young.

"Please, the only thing Damon Salvatore cares about is sitting next to him." He had to try really hard to stop the smirk that wanted to break free at the uneasy shy looks between the doppleganger and both Salvatores in response to that statement. "He couldn't careless what happens to the rest of us and you know it. Hell he's all but said that if it ever came down to a choice he'd always choose Elena and leave the rest of us twisting in the wind. Not to mention the one time I willingly agree with Damon 'devil spawn' Salvatore will be the day I stake myself."

What did he do when he got to town? Knowing what he knew of the boy it couldn't have been anything good. That kind of hatred always had a cause and he wanted to know what was at the root of this little problem.

"Yeah, Caroline, but Damon does have a point don't you think. We need to get rid of Klaus, the only question is how." This from the baby Gilbert. Everyone else seemed to come to a silent decision to just ignore Caroline's words and basically just blow past her in their discussion like her views on the plans she would most likely be needed for were unimportant. He was about to speak up in her defense, consequences be damned, when he saw he didn't have to just yet. His darling girl wasn't down and out that easily.

"I know what he said, I know what you and Elena, and hell everyone else said! I just don't think you're all thinking this through to it's logical conclusion is all. What happens if we go after Klaus? I'll tell you what! We lose, then we die. There's a reason that the originals have been around for a thousand years, that's because killing them is one a bad idea in general and two nearly impossible."

"Impossible blondie, are you forgetting that we already iced one? Believe me they may be hard to kill but impossible I think not."

How dare they speak so flippantly about the death of his brother!

"Yeah, Damon we did kill Finn that's right, I haven't forgotten that. Have you forgotten how hard it was to do though? Finn who had spent nearly his entire existance in a box, and who wasn't even as paranoid as we are, let alone Klaus, nearly got away. The 'plan' went to hell and really it was mainly luck and surprise that took him down. Klaus won't let us get lucky and nothing surprises him because he always expects the worst from the start."

All very true, he wasn't sure if he wanted them all to listen to her, or if he wanted them to ignore her and come at him anyway. Either way, this could be fun.

"So what you're saying is that you don't think we can do it. Jeez thanks for the vote of confidence Care." This from his pathetic first hybid. Really if he hadn't needed to motivate the witch to find his answers he never would have turned the fool. The boy had been nothing but a disappointment since.

" That's not what I'm saying at all Tyler. What I'm saying is I think we're all forgetting one very important fact here, actually we're ignoring a few of them and here I'll name them for you. Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol. Do you honestly think that if by some miracle we manage to actually get to Klaus, and that's a major if but I'll jump on the delusion bandwagon for a moment and imagine that we actually succeed by some twist of fate, do you really believe that his siblings will just let that go, that they'll just let us go?"

"Klaus's siblings hate him as much as we do." Which was true, at the moment none of them were even speaking to him.

"They're family Elena, you don't have to like family to love them, and believe me they love him. You can see it when you look at them together, or if you ever actually listened to them talk about him. Mostly Rebekah, but the others too. They're mad at him right now sure, but if we did something to him that wouldn't matter anymore, they'd be angry and they'd come after us."

He was stunned, did she really think his family loved him that much? How could she be so sure of their affections for him when he was so uncertain of it most days?

"Care-"

"Don't Care me, let's not forget the most glaring flaw in this whole messed up freak show of a plan here, we can't kill him. He's the head of our bloodline, he dies we die which is like so much like suicide I refuse to take part in it, so at best we can incapacitate him for a little while like Abby did to Mikael, but that would only last until one of his siblings found him and let him out. Unlike with Mikael they would actually go looking for him and if they didn't I'm sure he has some hybrids somewhere that would. That's assuming they don't just assume that we had something to do with it, cause come on if Klaus just drops off the radar we are so at the top of everyone's suspect list, and come after us first out of revenge.

Then if by some miracle again they didn't find him or just decided to let him cool his heels and didn't let him out until Elena has lived her human life and passed on dying peacefully in her sleep at a ripe old age, where would that leave the rest of us? You know the vampires and hybrids and hell even the witch in this little planning party? Hmmm? She and Matt and our parents would be dead and out of his reach sure, but we would still be here just biding out time waiting for him to get out and come after us again for not only putting him through that in the first place but for making him lose his doppleganger and any chance of new hybrids."

He was amazed at how insightful she seemed to be. Every scenerio she named was one he could see happening in the near future.

"We would get through it, like we get through every thing." Elena was reaching out to take her hand and placade her. She seemed to want to just make her stop talking, they all did, what she was saying was blowing holes through all of their plans.

"Well I'm tired of just getting through! I'm tired of being pushed or guilted into agreeing to these stupid half baked schemes that always seem to blow up in our faces, not work, and get someone we care about hurt or killed. I'm tired of bending over backwards to stop things that aren't life and death and because of what we do ending up being tortured again and again. I'm tired of being the blonde distraction which by the way not only is demeaning to me but also puts me right next to him and directly in the line of fire when he realizes what I'm distracting him from. Hell, I'd probably be dead ten times over by now if he didn't like me so much, but do any of you care? No! Why? Because my name isn't Elena freaking Gilbert. Now if you don't mind I'm going to my room now and I would like it if you all would leave my house."

Without another word she was gone in the blink of an eye leaving everyone behind sitting in her livingroom stunned at her outburst. Thinking over what she said though he understood where she was coming from, she was usually the one who's life and well being were on the line. Looking over at her so called 'friends' though he could see he was the only one.

"What's gotten into barbie?"

"She's just stressed Damon, I'm sure she'll come around when we have an actual plan. Until then let's all go to the boarding house. I don't think she really wants us here any more right now."

Like puppets they all agreed with the doppleganger, like they ever really did anything else. The boys left first all piling back into Tyler's SUV while he and Elena stayed behind to collect their things before following in Bonnie's car.

"Are you sure she'll come around she seemed pretty adament that this was a bad plan." She seemed pretty sure about what the eventual outcome would be, and he didn't know how he felt about her knowing him and his siblings so well.

"Don't worry Bon, she'll come around in the end she's our best friend, she won't leave us high and dry." Not like they usually left her, no not his girl, she was far to loyal for that.

As they walked towards the car he decided to get the one answer he needed before he focused on teaching these fools a lesson they won't soon forget about coming after him. He needed to know exactly how many lessons he was teaching Damon after all.

"Do you ever think Care and Damon will be able to get along? Things got pretty tense in there and you know she doesn't like him coming around." Come on doppleganger take the bait and monologue like you know you love doing.

"Yeah," Elena looked hurt by that fact and he had the unpleasant feeling that he wasn't going to like what she had to say at all. " She might not have blown up so bad had anyone else brought it up I guess. I don't think she'll ever trully forgive him for what he did to her, you know before. Not that I blame her or anything, but it was a while ago now and so much has happened since and Damon's changed so much I just wish she could see that instead of dwelling on the past."

Well that was altogether uninformative. When an answer you want isn't forthcoming then provoke one.

"Has he changed? Really? You don't think if given the chance he would do it all again?"

He used his best judgey witch tone too to really spark a heated reply.

"Of course he wouldn't, he feels really bad about what he did." He just gave her a disbelieving look at that statement, he didn't see Damon feeling bad about doing anything, ever. "Well, okay so he hasn't said those exact word, but I know he regrets it. He does! When he first got to town he was still hung up on Katherine and getting her out of the stupid tomb that she wasn't even in, in the first place, and that was all that mattered to him. Okay, so using Caroline like that while she was still human was beyond bad, but it's not like she hasn't been through far worse since she became a vampire. Torture, hybrid bite, Klaus, trust me Damon using her as a walking blood bag doesn't even crack the top five of bad for Care these days."

He was seething inside, maybe it didn't top the list in the way the doppleganger thought, but he had a feeling that it topped it in other ways for Caroline. Damon had compelled and used her when she was human, no wonder she didn't like to feed straight from the vein she remembered what that was like. Knowing Damon it probably wasn't even just blood he used her for either. He would kill them all of course for their roles in this little scheme they were trying to cook up, and he would lock the doppleganger away somewhere and never let her out again, showing her just how generous he had been before with letting her remain in her life. Damon though, he would take great pleasure in torturing that little bastard for years to come, it sort of had a nice poetic ring to it, the doppleganger in the tower and Damon in the dungeon.

"Come on Elena, let's get to the boarding house I can't wait to start planning what comes next."

**A/N - Alright so this was way better in my head when I thought it up and I like re-wrote it about a dozen times before finally sticking with this version. Hell, in the first version Klaus had body jacked Elena instead of Bonnie that's how much I've changed it, it still doesn't seem exactly right but I have a feeling this is as close as it's going to get. Hope you liked it and that the characters weren't too OOC. Let me know if you want me to turn it into a chapter fic, but for now it's just a oneshot.**


	2. tell me more

Klaus woke the day after the little planning party with a new sense of purpose, there was a plan, a rebellion, being mounted against him and he now knew exactly what was going to happen, sort of. Turns out the little ragtag Mystic Falls gang was a little more leaderless than he had originally thought just from looking at it from the outside. It always seemed like Damon and Stefan were in charge, which would make sense with them being the oldest of the lot and in theory the most experienced. After spending an entire evening surrounded by their incompetence he now understood why they engendered so little respect from these children and were constantly questioned, anyone with half a brain would question their decisions.

Over the course of about four hours he heard some of the most ridiculous plans he had ever heard in his thousand years of existence and they all centered around one singular goal, protecting Elena Gilbert. Caroline had been right when she said that Damon and everyone else seemed to only care for the comfort and safety of the doppelganger, the little world of Mystic Falls seemed to revolved around her and her wants.

The entire time they were together the only things he heard about Caroline had been about how selfish she was not to drop everything and help them like a true friend would. Not one of them even tried to argue her side of it the entire time, they were all in agreement that she was in the wrong and for some reason that pissed him off more than the fact that they were plotting against him. He supposed it was because they really didn't have a snowballs chance in hell of succeeding with their little plot, especially if their little brain storming session yesterday was them at their best, but they had already made his darling girl doubt herself and would likely do so again before this entire situation was over and done with.

Deciding he had let his mind wander enough he got out of bed and headed towards the other room, the one that housed the Bennett witch. He had intended to only use her the once before using a little spell to lock the memories of it away in her mind where she wouldn't be able to access them until it was far too late for the information to do any of them any good at all. Then he had listened to them and he'd known he would need to be near at hand for a while yet if he wanted to stay in the loop so to speak so he had to amend his plans slightly as his own needs changed.

Opening the door he found her as he had left her unconscious on the bed, waiting for him really. He had a spell placed on her so that whenever he wasn't invading her mind she was virtually in a coma, rubbing his hands together he supposed he should get started he didn't want to be late for school after all.

Caroline walked towards the cafeteria trying to ignore the pit in her stomach, none of her friends besides Bonnie had said so much as hello to her all day long. Her abandonment fears were rising to the surface and she was starting to panic, she couldn't be an outcast she just wasn't built to be alone. Seeing her friends all sitting together she thought about just sitting with them and ignoring their obvious anger over what happened yesterday, but she knew they would still be talking about the same stupid plan and she still didn't want any part of it. Deciding she wasn't really hungry after all she made her way silently out towards the football field and the line of trees beyond it, solitude could be good for her, it would give her plenty of time to reflect and think and -

"Care?" Oh thank god! Being on her own was driving her crazy already and it hadn't even been an entire day yet.

"Hey Bon, what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be with the others plotting and scheming?" She knew she sounded bitter but she couldn't help it, she disagreed with them one time and all of her friends turned on her like she was ... Katherine Pierce.

"I was there at the start, but it was just a rehash of yesterday like our perspective would suddenly change in those few short hours and we wouldn't find it stupid now like we did then. How long does it usually take to come up with a workable plan again?" She couldn't help but laugh at that, she had thought the same thing on more than one occasion.

"I used to think the same thing until I noticed a pattern, now with the big things I don't even start listening until at least the end of the week, assuming we have that long to plan, which usually we don't. It always goes a little something like this, Damon says the _obviously _bad idea, Stefan shoots him down, then everyone takes sides and argues about that for about two days even though everyone including Damon knows that his plans are really only ever a last resort. Elena tries to keep Damon in line while at the same time making sure not to spend too much time with him so Stefan doesn't get jealous, which normally doesn't work and Stefan winds up threatening Damon with you as back up since let's face it describing to Damon just how you plan to kill him someday is the highlight of those meetings for you. Then Elena gets angry at the both of you for not trusting her or her decision making abilities and every other time she gets mad at me for not stopping the two of you from threatening Damon who now thanks to that argument is both smug and off the rails at the same time. Poor Matt spends the entire time torn between wishing he was somewhere else and wishing he could help more while simultaneously being unofficially in charge of keeping Jeremy and Tyler from egging each other on until they both do something half thought out and entirely stupid. During which Alaric just stares at us all and shakes his head in disapproval since he is clearly the only rational sane adult in our little group. After all that winds down Alaric gives Damon a glass of Bourbon, Elena sits Tyler and Stefan on either side of me so I can keep them in line, you and Elena flag Jeremy for the same reason, Matt shuffles uncertainly near the door and Alaric gets us all focused again for about an hour when we come up with the plan we usually end up going with."

Klaus listened to her entire explanation fighting laughter the entire time. These were the people who tripped him up so often? He was deeply shamed. Thinking about it a little more he figured if he wasn't going to be getting more details about the attempt against him anytime soon he could at least get to know Caroline better, get something out of this at least.

"Care, do you mind if I as you about something you said yesterday. You said that Klaus's siblings would come after us, that they loved him enough to actually get angry if we took him out of the game for a while. Why do you think that, I mean it's not like we're going to kill him after all, don't you think they would be relieved to not have to deal with him anymore for a while, just like us." Watching her face he saw her emotions run from weary to certain, she was sure she knew what she was talking about with this. Once more he wondered how she could be so sure of his siblings affections for him when he himself was still so uncertain of it all.

"I know we all act like the originals are like totally different from anyone else we've ever met before and in a lot of ways they really are, but in this they are very human. Klaus is their brother, they're a family, and when you get down to it blood is thicker than just about anything.

"It took Elijah thinking that Klaus had all but killed everyone else for him to get to the point where he wanted Klaus to die, and even then all it took was his word that they were still alive for him to change his mind. He had spent years being eaten up with rage, betrayal, and sorrow for what he thought Klaus had done to Finn, Rebekah, and Kol if he didn't love Klaus just as much as he loves the rest of them instead of trusting his word and letting him go he would have just killed him and gotten one of his many witches or even you to find the others for him. For all they try to deny it Klaus and Elijah are close enough to each other, or at least they have been over the centuries that I'm sure that if he had wanted to he could have figured out what Klaus had done with the others once he knew they were alive.

"Kol spent over a hundred years daggered in a box being dragged around behind his brother like a freaking doll, but once he was out what did he do? Sure he screwed with Klaus a little taunting and teasing him, hurting Matt at the ball, but I I honestly think that's just Kol's personality. He's a lot like Damon with that, he shows you he loves you by caring enough to provoke a response out of you, what that provocation is might depend on his mood that day but it's all the same. The point is he stayed, if only for a little bit and after the first day where they all pretty much ganged up on Klaus, none of them attacked him again after that, at least not physically. Think about it, if someone had done that to you locking you away for years making you lose whole centuries of time, of your life, what would you do when you finally gained your freedom. If it had been done to me I would have spent years after getting out just making that person's life miserable if not just outright killing them for doing it in the first place, or at the very least I would have put as much distance between that person and myself as possible. The only emotion that can overpower that level of anger would be an even greater feeling of love.

"Rebekah was undaggered just to be put back in her box a few months later just because she learned the truth about Klaus and their mom. She hadn't done anything but listen to Elena's little story and again what did she do once she was free again? Like Kol she annoyed him, made comments about going after Elena or the rest of us, but after the first time when Elijah intervened none of them actually did it did they. Rebekah stayed by Klaus for centuries even after he daggered Finn and Kol, knowing that he could do the same to her at any time and even after he eventually did dagger her after she got out she came back to Mystic Falls with him to help him find out why his hybrids were dying, if she didn't love him she would have just told him to figure it out on his own and run off to live her own life. Hell, even after they blew town she still stayed here where just about everyone who really knew who she was hated her, just because he asked her to. That's love, it might be kind of co-dependent and really inconvenient for us but the originals do love each other like the family they are. Fortunately they also fight like family so they're rarely all together, making it easier on the rest of us."

He didn't know what to say to that, she was right of course he had just never seen it the way she does. He'd always seen their fights as being proof they didn't love him, not as proof that they did. Pushing it aside to be thought about later he pushed on with the conversation, needing to know something else just as much as he needed to know what she had already revealed.

"Wow, Care I never really looked at it like that, but I guess you could be right about them actually caring if we managed to take him down, guess we'll have to keep that in mind for later. One thing I still don't understand though is why won't you help us go after Klaus? Is it just because it was Damon's idea, because I get why you wouldn't want to do anything he asks, you know after everything." Don't worry love he'll be answering for that soon enough.

"It's not that, or at least not just that, I admit it is a little satisfying to be able to throw a wrench in his plans like that. Petty but satisfying. It's just that, well, everything just sort of got to me yesterday, like I've been holding it all back because we had one crisis after another and now that everything's relatively calm I just don't want to have to do _this _anymore."

He caught the emphasis and just had to ask.

"This?"

"Yes, this! This plotting and scheming that always ruins everything and leads to nothing but more pain for me. I mean haven't I already gone through enough? I was turned into a vampire by Katherine freaking Pierce as a vampire version of a revenge fuck. I went through my transition alone in a hospital and when I managed to calm down enough to go out and try to get my life back on track, a monumentally stupid idea by the way, Damon freaking Salvatore tries to stake me in a parkinglot. Stefan saved me sure, but then all I got was judgment and lectures about how I was a monster and the second I slip up and kill someone, which _apparently _ I couldn't help but do eventually, there would be a line of people just waiting to kill me. I spent months hiding what I had become from my mom only for her to find out and try to kill me, twice, since I compelled her to forget the first time. I help to deal with Katherine, and the sacrifice being a good and supportive friend, only to be tortured by werewolves and my own dad. All of it necessary and I get that, but this, this isn't life or death. It isn't necessary and I am just too far beyond tired to even act like I give a damn at the moment."

Those sorry bastards! How dare they treat his angel like that. Her father was already dead he knew, mores the pity, but everyone else would soon feel his wrath this he swore.

"Oh, and here I was thinking you had feeling for Klaus or something." He played it off as a joke but he wanted more than anything to hear her reply to this.

"I don't have feelings for Klaus Bonnie, I swear." Just as he thought, "At least not like you're thinking anyway, but what I do feel for him is playing a part in this though." Now it was getting interesting indeed.

"What could you possibly feel for Klaus?" Come on love, unburden yourself, I won't tell a single soul I swear.

"Sympathy maybe, understanding, and I don't know what else it's all just such a confusing mess in my brain. It's just that ever since we started learning more about him, ever since he and I started spending time together, even if it usually was just because I needed to keep him occupied while the rest of you tried something, I don't know I just don't hate him as much as I used to, as much as I should."

"Care, what are you saying?"

"Don't even start with the judging Bonnie, it's not like I'm jumping ship for the other side or anything, it's just that he's different from anyone else I've ever known you know. Think of it this way let's say your entire life was filled with nothing but people who were only around you because they had to be or because they needed or wanted something from you or because they had some kind of agenda and were trying to use you. Then imagine that someone comes along who doesn't do any of that, who sees your weaknesses and instead of exploiting them just sees them, sees you. Whenever I'm with Klaus it's like he's the one person who doesn't want to judge me or use me for some stupid plan and I don't know I guess now that he's not all homicidal and trying to kill us I just don't want to put that look in his eyes again."

"What look?" What look was she talking about, he wasn't even going to acknowledge the rest of her explanation until he was alone and in his own body. He did understand everything she had described and the idea that he could be _that _person for her, it was intoxicating.

"Hurt. When I play the blonde distraction and he and I are talking and laughing, and both of us are having a nice time just being around each other. Then he figures out what we're doing and just for a second when he looks at me for the first time after figuring out that I was being used against him, that _I _was using his feelings for me against him, his eyes are just filled with so much hurt. Every time I see that, I feel worse and worse about doing that to him, and every time I tell myself I won't do it again that, that this time is the last time that I make him feel the way people used to make me feel all the time. Then everyone, all my friends, come to me and tell me that if I don't help again that someone I love will die and it'll be my fault, but this time no one's dying, even without this plan everyone lives if we just let it go and live with our new reality.

"Don't get me wrong I feel bad for Elena, I remember what it's like to be used for your blood, but what Damon did to me didn't end my world and what Klaus is doing to Elena won't end hers. Once a month he'll pop in fill up a blood bag or two, with needles no less not even fangs, then he'll be off again to find more werewolves to turn. Damon was in my life everyday, using me for blood, for information, for sex and no one seems to even care anymore. Why should I drop everything, putting my life in jeopardy, putting my moms life in danger if we fail, all because Elena will have to go through something that isn't even life or death. You can say I'm selfish or whatever but I just don't see the point of this plan, succeed or fail we're still going to lose."

He couldn't do it, he couldn't judge her for being the only smart one in her little ragtag group of friends, for being on her own side for once since he'd met her. She was right after all, it wasn't fair of them to demand she lay her safety, her very life, on the line for something so selfish and truly unimportant. As she had pointed out she had survived far worse at the hands of Damon Salvatore, why should she drop everything to _save_ Elena from a fate that would be arguable far kinder than what she herself had been forced to survive, on her own no less. From what he knew of her time with Damon, and he had investigated after finding out what little Elena had let slip the day before, the only thing that had been done for her by her so called friends once Damon's manipulation and use of her had been made known was to spike her drink with vervain at a party so that they could use her themselves to weaken and then trap the elder Salvatore. He would not judge her for this, not even if it blew his cover as Bonnie Bennett sky high.

"I don't blame you for not wanting to help Caroline. After thinking about it more after we left I started to see things a bit more from your perspective, you have every right to decide not to go along with what the others are planning. I can't speak for them but know that _I _will never hold this decision against you, you are a good friend Care, and it's time we started being good friends to you in turn."

"Thanks for understanding Bonnie, though I guess that's my problem I'm being a good friend, not a best friend."

"What do you mean Care?" He was truly confused, nothing in his thousand years had ever been so challenging as trying to follow the logic of this conversation. Women truly were a mystery, and one he for one was positive he would never truly solve.

"You know like that t-shirt says. A good friend will talk you out of a fight you can't win. A best friend will stand beside you in that same fight swinging a bat while singing 'Someone's gonna get it'. I'm being a good friend and they want me to be a best friend, I just can't do it this time."

As he watched her walk away Klaus wasn't sure what to say any longer. Deciding it would probably be best to leave her to her own thoughts for the moment he got up and began to make his way back towards the others knowing deep down that this conversation was far from over.

Alaric made his way towards the Salvatore home and tried to understand once again why he was allowing himself to be pulled into these messes time and again. For the last few days he had noticed a bit of a strain on the friendships of his favorite students, but he'd let it go as being nothing more than teenage angst getting the better of them. Supernatural or not they were still teenagers after all. Until Elena approached this morning and explained the entire situation to him in full, to say he was stunned would be an understatement. Elena wanted to bring the fight to Klaus and so far everyone but Caroline was on board with this little suicide mission, though he was told in no uncertain terms that Caroline would come around eventually, though he wasn't so sure of that himself it did explain some of the tension of the past week. Now they just needed to come up with an actual workable plan, which is apparently where he came in, they needed him to come to this next planning session to help reign in Damon. At some point over the months of Mystic Falls hijinxs he had become Damon's only sort of friend and unofficial handler, he still didn't understand how that had happened but if the Gilbert siblings needed him he wasn't going to let them down now, he owed Jenna at least that much.

As he walked into the boarding house, thoughts of Jenna still weighing heavily on his mind, he was nearly hit by a tumblr of bourbon that flew just past his head to shatter on the wall behind him. Ah, the joys of making plans with Damon Salvatore, the inevitable temper tantrum. He truly believed that if they could just get past their difference of opinion about the care and future of Elena Gilbert Damon and Klaus could actually be good friends, their personalities were similar enough after all.

"I'm telling you this is the only way there is _Stefan_. There is no sneaking up on an original, least of all Klaus, if we try it any way but head on he'll see us coming a mile off and then he'll have time to get ready for us."

"As apposed to what? Rushing him won't work, we can't overwhelm Klaus he's too strong and when he truly needs to he just powers through the pain. Not to mention all the Hybrids that he'll be surrounded with, it's not like they'll just stand there and let us kill him, they'll jump in as soon as we hit him if not sooner and then we'll be the ones out numbered. Klaus isn't stupid Damon, no matter what we do he'll have a counter attack already in place, we have to find a way to surprise him if we're going to have even a little chance at winning."

"Well I guess you would know, weren't you two all buddy buddy back in the day."

"That's enough! This isn't helping, we need a plan and we can't even decide on what kind of plan to even try. This is getting us nowhere."

Elena was right of course, then again they never could decide on anything right off. He once had a discussion about it with Caroline and he agreed with her, there really was no reason to pay attention the first few days after they decided to make a plan, that time was less for planning and more for posturing. Taking a deep breathe he decided now was as good a time as any to jump in the fray.

Klaus sat in the corner and just silently laughed at them all. Damon was loud and full of bluster but he was amusing, while Stefan was solemn and serious but still just as hilarious. To hear them tell it he was the devil himself, and that was the funniest thing of all. Caroline had been right, they were lost without her and the teacher around to get them all focused and in line. The young hunter and his hybrid were off in the opposite corner talking each other into the monumentally stupid plan of the two of them just going to his home and taking care of him themselves, as if they could. They were both of a mind that he would not see them as a threat, and they were right about that for the simple reason that they weren't a threat, not to him at least. The doppelganger was bouncing between the Salvatores and her own brother trying to keep everyone calm but truly only succeeding in working them all up more. The quarterback was over towards the door trying to stay out of reach of all the brassed off supernaturals in the room, smart man he was the most expendable and the easiest to kill in the room at the moment. The teacher had come in a few moments ago just in time to dodge a glass of liquor thrown towards the far wall and now seemed to be preparing himself for battle. This was becoming more and more entertaining the longer it dragged on, he really would have to thank them for providing such amusement right before he crushed them all.

"Damon! Sit down please. Stefan, you sit over there as far from your brother as we can get you. Tyler, Jeremy, whatever you're planning over there amongst yourselves I don't even want to hear it, just know it's flawed, won't work, and you should both know better by now, grab a seat yourselves. Elena go sit by Bonnie, as far from either Salvatore as _we _can get _you_. Now, since Caroline isn't here to help me, and getting you lot to focus is like hearding cats, things are going to go a little different this time. I won't be coddling you, there will be no peace offerings of booze or unruffling of feathers. This is not something that we all need to do to survive, this is something you all want to do for your own reasons, so either grow-up and handle it like adults on your own or drop it now before your immaturity and inability to work together without Caroline and I as buffers gets everyone killed."

After having said his peace the teacher simply turned and left leaving everyone else to either take his advice or not. A few seconds of stunned silence eventually gave way to more bickering, seeing a perfect opportunity Klaus slipped out to catch Alaric before he could make it to his car.

"Alaric, wait up." When he finally caught the man he finally saw just how tired he truly was, the circles under his eyes and the lines etched into his face making him look far older than he really was. "Why did you do that? Why won't you or Caroline help us?" He already knew Caroline's reasons but no one else knew that though so he kept his tone disbelieving and almost lost like any teen would be when faced with the possibility that the adult in their life wouldn't be helping them this time.

"Well, I can't speak for Caroline, though I do have my theories on why she backed out of this but I'm just tired. After Katherine, then Elijah, then Klaus and the rest of his family, peppering in the occasional follower or random bit of evil including my now actually dead vampire wife, I'm just tired. I thought I could do this, even as I walked up to the house I was thinking about how I _needed _to help with this to help Elena and Jeremy, for Jenna if for nothing else."

"So what changed?" Why back out now, his being tired was obviously true it was practically written all over his face, but there had to be more to it. The others he easily understood, they were angry, rash, stupid really all following the doppelganger and her pet vampire brothers. Caroline and the teacher though, they weren't attacking, they were bowing out and he didn't understand it. Why?

"I walked in that room and I just listened to them arguing and it just reminded me about all the other times before it and I just couldn't do it again. Especially without Caroline there to help me calm everyone down. Bonnie I understand why all of you want to do this, you're doing it for Elena and I _want_ to help, I do, I just can't do it right now. Don't worry about it though, I'm sure that after this meeting is declared a bust I'll be ganged up on by Elena, Jeremy, and Damon all of them taking turns trying to get me to help and I'll cave much like I'm sure Caroline will. When it comes down to the wire we'll be there like we always are, we just need a little space this time."

Huh. He was likely right of course, when it came down to it both he and his darling girl would throw their lot in with their friends. The only question for him now was would this slight hesitation change the teachers fate if the end result was still such a forgone conclusion. Should the teacher be spared or condemned with the rest?

Klaus stood staring at the door in front of him for what felt like hours but was surely only moments. Raising his hand to knock he thought about his plan once more and still found no other option open to him, he needed help and this was the only place he was likely to find it he only hoped that Caroline's assessment of the situation was spot on.

"Ah, Miss Bennett to what do we own the pleasure of your company?"

"I suppose I could tell you that, but I was rather hoping to speak to all three of you together. So be a good brother, Elijah, and summon the other two we have plans to make."

**A/N - This chapter was mostly to sort of show Klaus/Bonnie interacting more with Caroline but towards the end I started thinking about Alaric and what he would have been like at this point in the show if you know the ring and mama original hadn't turned him all homicidal and crazy and I think he would have just been tired of it all much like Caroline.**


	3. Play the game

Klaus sat at the bar and waited, his siblings hidden just out of sight waiting for his signal, the dopplegangers plan should begin any minute now. He had to admit that being there for the planning of it all made thwarting them far too easy. Normally at this point he would only be suspicious that _something_ was about to happen without having any definitive idea as to what that something was. Now, though after hearing it all from their own mouths he knew exactly what was to come and after talking it over with his siblings he had the perfect counter attack in place. When he felt his darling Caroline enter the Grill he nodded slightly to Elijah to tell him that the game had begun.

They had, of course, been right about his beloved distraction when it had come down to the wire she hadn't been able to deny them her aide. Even knowing that they would likely fail either way it just wasn't in her to leave them to their fate without helping to at least try and keep them all alive. What he saw over the last month only made him want to punish the ungrateful little bastards even more.

At the beginning Caroline had stuck by her assertion that this entire plan was a bad idea, telling them time and again that she would have no part in it. Finally after two weeks of denying them they had gone to her mother, beseeching the woman to talk sense to her daughter. Once the plan had been explained to the Sheriff instead of backing them in their silent fight of wills with her daughter she had scolded them all for their lack of fore thought in this entire endeavor. She had taken her daughters side in their fight stating that if Caroline changed her mind on her own she would not stand in her way but she would not be manipulating her to help them either. She stormed out after giving them a final warning to heed her daughters predictions, saying that their plan could do nothing else but blow up in their collective faces and maybe catch a lot of innocents in the cross fire. He had gained a new respect for Caroline's mother that day and silently promised to keep the collateral damage to a minimum in this fight between him and the doppleganger.

The last week however, after the plan had finally taken shape and everything had been put into place to ensure their success, at least in their opinion, they had all ganged up on her to try and tear down her defenses. They had gathered in her home like some sort of intervention and had each taken turns emotionally blackmailing her. Each of them began with an amusing tale of their long and loving friendship with her, except for Damon who hadn't been invited, and ended with a plea to not let them die for her own stubbornness. He had been furious but had played his part as the disapproving Bennett witch, knowing the outcome already before it even began. He watched as his beautiful brave Caroline was moved from conviction to a guilty mess in a matter of hours. He had gone straight to his siblings after that and together they had come up with what to do about this newest threat to their family. Now it was just a matter of destroying all their plans before having fun of their own.

He waited for her to slide into the seat next to him before he spoke, he had to make it seem like the distraction was working.

"Caroline, what can I do for you love?"

"Nothing, I just came for a drink." Oh, how he loved the sound of her voice, even when she was lying.

"Really, then why are you sitting here with so many other empty seats available to you?"

"This is my seat why should I change it just because you're here." Smart girl thinking on her feet, he decided to throw her a curve ball just to see what she would do.

"I've never seen you sitting here before love, aren't you normally in a booth?"

"Okay, just because you're such a stalker that doesn't mean that you know everything about me. I sit at a booth when I'm meeting people but when it's just me I sit here, sitting at a booth by yourself is just sort of depressing after all." Very good love, carelessly dropping the fact that she would be here all on her own, almost absently like it didn't matter at all. If he wasn't privy to her true plans he would have zeroed in on that fact and would have spent hours trying to gain her undivided attention. Tonight of course would not go as planned, he had a new script to follow and for once she would be following his lead.

"Then I will bother you no longer love. Have a lovely evening." Getting up he made to leave, he didn't make it two steps before he felt her hand on his arm.

"Wait."

"Why should I love? Planning something?"

She looked in his eyes for a few seconds looking for the teasing light that normally accompanied such a statement before her own widened in understanding, that was just one of the things he loved about her, she was always so quick to understand.

"How did you-" He didn't allow her to finish before quickly snapping her neck. He silently apologized for the action as he carried her out of the Grill and towards his home where everyone else should be waiting by now. Time for the fun to begin.

Caroline was the first to wake, the first thing her blurry eyes registered was her friends, all around her restrained in different ways was everyone who had had a part in their little _Original Plan _as she called it, this could not be good. Feeling her hands above her head she tugged at them experimently to confirm what she already knew in the back of her mind. She was tied up, _again_, normally after that revelation came the inventive and mind numbing torture but considering who she had been with just before the bondage came into it she was reasonably certain she'd be able to skip that part of the regular routine. Hearing noise off to her left she looked towards the door to find Rebekah glaring at them all. Or maybe she wouldn't skip it. Mentally shrugging she just forced herself to relax, she had seen this coming after all but had helped her friends regardless, she would take the consequences no matter what they were now that the plan had blown up in their faces once more.

"Ah good, Nik Caroline is awake!" The smile from Rebekah was one of the more frightening things she had ever seen in her life, and she had been tortured by werewolves before. She looked almost friendly, it made tiny shivers run down her spine, what were they up to?

"Told you sister, she's far stronger than the rest of them, age be damned." In walked Klaus, his lagid stride making him seem to almost stroll into the room.

"Can't blame us for doubting brother, we had good cause to believe one of the Salvatores would bestir themselves before this baby vampire." Kol said as he wandered in from another direction, this was most definitely not good, hell the only Original missing seemed to be-

"Do try not to judge things so quickly Kol, it is bound to do you a disservice in the future, much like I believe you have done Miss Forbes by doubting her strength." Elijah. They were so screwed, not only had they plotted against an original but it seemed they had been busted mid-plan by the rest of them. Death would be a mercy she was sure of that now.

"No offence meant darling, it was just a good natured bet you understand." She decided that silence was her best bet at the moment so she said nothing, which only prompted Kol to continue like her silence was an answer all its own. "See Elijah, she understands completely."

"Really, I think her silence means she's been stunned speechless by your utter stupidity." Rebekah drawled, adding in her two cents, not for the first time if Kols sticking his tongue out in her direction was any indication of their relationship.

"Enough of this petty squabbling, now that one is up what say you to waking the others, we don't want to get behind schedule now do we."

"Oh, I love that idea, who do I get?" Kol and Rebekah were jumping up and down like it was christmas and the chore of waking her friends was their present. She wanted to do something, say something, that would stop this knowing from the way they were acting that whatever they had in mind would most likely not be a simple shoulder shake or a shout. She remained silent and still though, knowing that no matter what she did she wouldn't be able to change anything and might even end up making things worse.

"Elijah you wake the doppleganger and my hybrid, Rebekah you take baby Gilbert, the ripper, and the teacher, Kol you get the quarterback, the witch, and the elder Salvatore and I will keep darling Caroline company while you work." She watched Klaus swagger over to her while his younger siblings looked far too gleeful about their assignments. Elijah as usual showed no emotion whatsoever, but if she had to guess she would say he almost looked disappointed when he looked at Elena, maybe even betrayed.

"So love, have you guessed what's going on yet, or do you need more time to puzzle it out?" She thought about simply not answering him, but she also knew how violent his mood swings could be when he didn't get his way so she decided to humour him for the moment. If he wanted to play twenty questions then she would play along, if only to keep his attention centered on her and off her friends.

"No, I think I've got it thanks." That was it, nothing else, even if she had decided to answer his questions that didn't mean she wasn't going to make him work for it.

"Care to share your theories with the class?" He was amused she realized, not the normal kind of amused either this was the smug 'I know something you'll never know unless I decide to tell you about it' amusement. She recognized as a trademark look of Tylers back when he was always a raging jackass, a.k.a before his first transition into a werewolf.

After he became a hybrid it sort of slowly worked its way back, and now was once more a favored expression of his. Maybe it was a hybrid thing, but she doubted it, the only reason Klaus would sport that look was if he really did know something he didn't think she would be able to piece together on her own. He might be a bit of a jackass himself, but he was an honest one.

"You found out what we were planning to do, and this little show is your response to that. This is basically your version of a victory dance." Her response set all the originals to laughing, even Elijah which was a kind of surprising, after all it wasn't like she said anything they didn't already know.

"She really does know you brother, you were right about that." Kols announcement only made them all smile again and it was really starting to creep her out, it was strange the Originals weren't exactly known for being happy people after all.

"It would be hard not to be right about that when I heard the proof right from her own mouth after all." Wait what? When had she talked to Klaus? Normally when they were forced to interact she was sarcastic or lying through her teeth, how would that show that she knew him well?

Looking around her she noticed what the others had been doing while Klaus had been distracting her, and yes she was aware of the irony there.

Elena was already awake but still groggy from the way she kept rubbing her face against her shoulder as if in pain she guessed that Elijah had 'gently' slapped her awake. Matt was also awake and blinking rapidly almost like he was trying to wake from the nightmare he was seeing around him, she could definitely relate to that one. Jeremy was starting to come around from the way Rebekah was violently shaking him causing his head to snap back and forth so much she was surprised she hadn't broken his neck completely yet. Alaric and Bonnie were still out but from the way they seemed to be waking the humans first she didn't think that would last long.

She was just starting to wonder what they were going to do about the more supernaturally inclined of her friends when she smelled it, vervaine. Looking all around the room for the source she finally spotted several old tin buckets sitting in the corner near the fireplace. She knew without a doubt that was where the scent of vervain was coming from. The light from the fire did nothing to help her see the contents, the tin not allowing any shadows to be cast from within them, but she had a pretty good idea about how her friends were going to be woken up.

"So what's the plan here, I shared now it's your turn." Hopefully she was wrong, hopefully they would all throw a simultaneous temper tantrum and kill them all instantly in a fit of blind rage, knowing them it could totally and completely happen just that way and no one who knew them would be surprised at all by the story when it was told as a cautionary tale about why you shouldn't go up against an original.

"Why should I love, when you're so good at guessing the outcome of things. You even guessed this would happen from the beginning, as I recall you even tried to warn your little friends off this path several time. Don't worry love they're about to wish they had listened to you very soon." How did he know all of this? Everyone but her mom, and the others in this room, thought she was into this plan whole heartedly, that she followed along from the beginning no questions asked.

"Feel like giving me a hint, I mean you did say you were going to keep me company over here and so far I have to tell you you've been a bit of a lousy conversationalist." Again her snarky comments only got chuckles in response, where was the rage?

"What would you like to know love?" Oh, so so much.

"Well I was going for a hint about what's coming up for me and my friends and really hoping that the vervain over by the fireplace is just a scare tactic even though I know better, but now I've decided on asking something else."

"What might that be?" She's was going to die anyway she may as well ask.

"Were all of you turned into pod people or something?"

"What?" When you got nothing left to lose and your life has already basically been forfeit go for broke.

"Well, you're all being nice to each other and laughing when I make snarky comments. No one's flown off the handle and attacked anyone yet and it's been like a whole five minutes at least which has to be a record for all of you, and I swear I saw Elijah smile like twice now and it didn't break his face or seem to cause him any pain at all so that alone is proof positive that you've all been victims of like body snatchers or something."

"Oh, darling it's nothing quite so science fiction, we just had ourselves a little chat."

Great they were talking to each other now, which meant they were being civil, which meant they were completely screwed.

Damon came to with a dull ache in his neck and the sound of barbies voice ringing in his ears, which all added up to one thing. Their plan had failed, and they were about to pay the price for it all. Oh boy.

Raising his head up slightly to show that he had woken, which would hopefully stop the person slapping him repeatedly, no such luck. When he looked up and saw who was slapping him he understood why, it was Klaus junior. All the sadism, none of the hybrid perks.

"Good of you to finally come around mate, your the last to regain your senses. Considering the years you have on most of the others here if I were you I would be deeply shamed."

Glancing around he finally took in his surroundings beyond the pain his body was currently experiencing. He was surrounded by his family and Klaus'. Oh, joy.

"Alright I'm up, what now?"

"Well that's the fun part, that isn't up to me."

What? Since when did little pain maker ever give over control of torture time? Unless Klaus had pulled rank. Glancing over to the hybrid he found him grinning from ear to ear but he wasn't looking at anyone but Caroline so that smile could be for another reason entirely. What the hell was going on here?

"Alright, if you aren't calling the shots who is?"

He expected the runt of the litter to name one of his elder brothers, but the name he got shocked him to his core.

"Caroline."

"What!?" the question came from so many different directions he knew this was the first anyone was hearing of it. The only one who didn't react was Caroline herself which begged the question, why not?

Caroline kept her face blank and her breathing even knowing that what Klaus wanted more than anything was her reaction, so she refused to give him one. They would explain anyway so what was the point in asking.

"Nothing to say love?"

"Not until you say a little more yourself."

Then she was it, his amusement, this was all fun and games to him. Which both terrified her and gave her hope that maybe at least a few of her friends might survive this game whatever it was.

"That's my girl. Well, the game is simple sweetheart. I will give you two choices for each of your friends and whichever one you choose will be their fate. One choice will of course be far more severe than the other."

It couldn't be that simple. It just couldn't be!

"What's the catch?"

"That's what I love about you Caroline beauty and brains. The catch as you so eloquently put it is simple. It will be a blind choice. You will not know which is which until the choice is made. You told your friends repeatedly that coming after me was temping fate, now they shall tempt fate once more and this time they will have no choice but to listen to you."

**A/N - I meant for this chapter to be the last but then this idea hit me of this game and it's a bit more in depth than I had originally planned for. Now this is a Klaroline story and you will see that in the next chapter. Don't worry nothing that will be done to her friends will be unforgivable it will actually be very eye opening for Caroline and a few others even. Well, until next time.**


	4. Round One

Klaus was very much in his element at the moment, Caroline could see the sparkle in his eyes he was so amused, center stage and center of attention. They were all watching him now just waiting for his explanation waiting for his latest game to begin. Looking around at all of her friends she realized that to an outsider who didn't know all the history between them it would almost look like they were eager to play but she could see the resignation and desperation underneath. They all knew there was no way out of this and more over that it was beyond likely that none of them would be leaving this room at all.

"Alright all, here's how this new little game works, we're going to play truth and consequences. First thing you should know before we begin is that you've all been compelled to tell the truth when a question is posed to you."

Oh no, she could already tell that this little game wasn't going to end well for any of them. Least of all her.

"The second thing you should be aware of is that your fates will not be decided by myself or any of my siblings eager though they may be to play along, no your lives are in sweet Carolines hands not mine. Don't mistake me, my siblings and I will be participating quite a bit, the game is called truth and _consequences_ after all."

The way he said consequences made her skin crawl. She couldn't help thinking about the pales of vervain in the corner. At least they would all survive though, if their fates were really in her hands, it wasn't like she would ever willingly kill her friends after all.

"Now here is how the game works. My family and I will be posing questions to you all one question a piece from each of us and you must answer honestly when your truths are laid bare for all to see then dear Caroline will be given the choice between two consequences and whatever she picks shall be your fate. As I said earlier the catch is that it will be a blind choice, sweet Caroline will not know what the choices are anymore than the rest of you. You had best hope that luck is finally on your side."

Yeah, like that ever happened. She could do this, she would just trust her instincts and hope that if anything really bad were to come up she would be able to find a way around it. And then maybe santa will pop down the chimney and spread a little christmas cheer in July. This was going to completely and totally blow.

"Shall we begin?"

Like they really had a choice.

"Who's first then? Should we draw names from a hat, choose at random, maybe go alphabetically?" Kol was having far too much fun with this, though that wasn't really surprising he was evil spawn junior after all.

"I think Caroline should choose."

"Marvelous idea sister, so darling Caroline who's to be first?"

"Oh no, I am not choosing, no way in hell." She was not choosing and they could not make her, well they could but they better not.

"She is quite right brother, Ms. Forbes already has a part to play in this game it would be unfair of us to give her another task." She silently thanked Elijah with every fiber of her being. "Besides should it not be the responsibility of someone with a bit more experience with judgment like Ms. Bennett." Then she damned him to the hottest circle of hell.

Every eye in the room turned towards Bonnie just waiting for her answer.

Bonnie had been so preoccupied with sorting through all the new memories in her mind made while Klaus had taken her over that for a minute she didn't know why everyone was looking at her, then her mind played back the conversation that had been going on around her and she understood.

She could refuse like Caroline had done, but she knew it wouldn't do any good she could tell by the identical looks of glee on their faces that all the originals were in agreement with Elijah that this should be her role to play. The only thing she could think to do would be to nominate herself as the first victim of this little game of theirs.

"Before you begin though there is one caveat, as the 'chooser' you will be the last to play the game so you cannot put yourself forward as you self-sacrificing sorts are want to do."

Damn Kol, what was he reading her mind or something. Damn them all, they had easily and effectively painted her into a corner and there was nothing else for her to do but to name someone. But who? Looking around at her friends she loved them all dearly, well most of them anyway, she couldn't choose one of them to be tortured. She just couldn't.

"Tick tock, witchy. Either you choose someone in the next thirty seconds or everyone gets tortured for the next thirty minutes as a penalty for your tardiness."

"Alaric!"

As soon as the name left her mouth she looked over at him desperately trying to apologize without words. I am so sorry Ric!

"Ooooh, is someone a little mad with teacher? Did he give you a bad grade? Alright then, Mr. Saltzman, looks like your first up. Shall we begin?"

Oh god, please let him be okay! If he died she would never forgive herself, or Klaus.

Ric wasn't angry about the choice Bonnie made, he understood it, and on some level was even thankful for it. Out of all of them only he, Stefan, and Damon were even old enough to legally drink in a bar and if he'd been forced to watch one of these kids being tortured that would have been even worse than the feeling of terror that came with going first in a demented game like this one.

"Alright so who's first to question the former vampire hunter turned history teacher?"

"Me first Nik! Ohh, ohh, me first!" Rebekah was jumping up and down waving her hand in the air mockingly.

"Very well Rebekah you have the floor."

"What to ask, what to ask. Oh, I know. So teacher, how do you really feel about always having to save poor innocent Elena?"

"I hate it." Whoa where did that come from? He could feel his eyes getting wider with shock, while his mouth just kept running. Where were these words coming from?

"Oh really, do tell."

"We keep rushing into these half-baked plans, and someone always seems to get hurt or killed. I think that if there was a little less scheming and a little more realism around here we'd all be better off."

"So it seems that the doppelgängers safety isn't paramount to everyone."

"I didn't say that! I want Elena to be safe and to live a normal life, I just don't think her normal life should come at the expense of everyone else's."

He just couldn't stop talking. His mind was no better than his mouth at the moment, he kept thinking about everything he'd lost, everything everyone had lost, for these plans to half ass work. Jenna, Isobel, being possessed by Klaus, Abbey, Mayor Lockwood, and the list went on and on.

"Good for you Mr. Saltzman. Now who's next? Kol would you like to ask your question?"

"I want to know about... Damon. How do you really feel about Damon, I mean the man did turn your wife after all. Then if I heard right he rubbed your face in it, in public no less. Go on then, let it all out." Of course he had to ask about Damon. He looked around the room at all the suddenly stiff postures of the people he thought of as his family. They already knew what he was going to say, because it's basically what they all would say if posed the same question.

"When I first met Damon I hated him. I thought he was an arrogant ass with an ego bigger than the entire state. Then as I got to know him better, mostly against my will, I realized that he was one of those people who lashes out when he's hurt or upset. He thinks that if he pushes all the right buttons then he'll get everything he wants. He's one of those people you always hear about, too old to be a kid, but never going to be an adult. Now after all this time I've just accepted him for who he is because he is never going to change."

As the words poured out of him he realized just how true they were. While having to tell the truth against his will was disturbing to say the least, it was also freeing in a way. There were no pretenses left to hide behind. There was only simple honesty.

"Well said sir, Elijah you want next go?"

"Yes, we've heard what you truly feel about Damon, and I agree with you all that you've said but I'm more interested to know what you really think about Caroline? In fact, I can't wait to hear it."

He actually had to stop and think for a moment before he answered that one. Unlike all the rest that just came pouring out this one wasn't on the tip of his tongue. He rarely thought about Caroline at all, so to be asked what he honestly thought of her was a bit of a riddle.

"Well, I envy her strength and applaud her loyalty. She's a lot smarter than anyone, myself included, really gives her credit for, I mean she was the only one of us who knew exactly how this was going to end so she's at least smarter than we were. She's brave and almost fearless to a worrying degree. She seems to almost always put the safety and well-being of others before her own. She's a bit of a perfectionist, which isn't always a bad thing and I honestly think that her borderline OCD tendencies are how she's dealt with all the stress that is our lives now so well. She controls what little she can in her immediate surroundings and that gives her the inner fortitude necessary to tackle the unexpected things in her life like vampirism, and all the supernatural perils we've faced in the last two years or so. If I'm being nothing but honest I admire her, she is the best of us."

By the end of his little speech everyone was stunned speechless. Especially Caroline.

"Well said mate. Now for my question then we can get on to the fun part. Have you ever hurt Caroline?"

"Not intentionally. Though I'm sure that I have hurt her by saying something thoughtless or excluding her, I haven't ever hurt her physically if that's what you mean."

"See that wasn't so hard was it?" He tried really hard not to answer the obviously rhetorical question but they had compelled him to answer all questions posed to him honestly.

"Speak for yourself." His answer seemed to amuse them all, great just great.

"Now on to your part of this love, now don't worry we've made it quite easy for you. All you have to do is answer one yes or no question and your answer will decide his fate. Yes or no, darling. Do you forgive him? Remember you to have been compelled to tell the truth."

"Yes."

"How generous of you, love. Well, teacher looks like you will be living through this after all. Your exact punishment though won't be revealed until the very end when you can all hear it together, wouldn't want you to miss what comes next. Just to keep things fair though…" Klaus bent down until he caught his eyes. "You won't speak another word until I allow you to. Can't have you helping the others now can we?"

"Okay witch, pick again, whose next?"

Bonnie looked mutinous, like she would refuse to answer. There was no easy out this, all that was left was her friends, and Damon.

"Matt"

Matt would be safe she knew, what could he have done that Caroline wouldn't forgive? He was Matt after all.

"Ah Matt Donovan, it looks like it's your turn, are you ready for your reckoning mate?"

"Yes." He just hoped that no matter what he'd done in the past Caroline had forgiven him. He wasn't sure what his punishment was going to be even if she did, but he didn't even want to think about what it would be if she didn't.

"Alright then, who gets first go at the quarterback?" Klaus clapped his hands together and rubbed them together. He looked like a cheesy movie villain, not that he had any plans to ever tell him that. No, Matt had only one plan. To keep his mouth shut as much as possible and do his best to survive this newest mystical snafu.

"Rebekah went first last round brother, I want my turn."

"Very well, Kol, you may begin." Just what he needed, Kol as his first interrogator. He didn't know what he'd done wrong in a past life but whatever it was he must have rivaled Hitler to deserve this.

"So quarterback, I was just wondering as a man filled with such apathy. What drew you into our supernatural world to begin with?" That had not been the question he'd expected to have to answer. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, no sooner had the thought formed in his mind than his mouth opened and out poured everything. He had no control over his words, it was like he couldn't stop now even if he wanted to.

"My sister Vikki was turned by Damon and then staked by Stefan. I didn't know about it until much later, by then nearly everyone I'd grown up with and considered my friend was either dead or something supernatural."

"Oh, Damon, you naughty boy. You seem to have a thing for turning the people closest to those you surround yourself with. I wonder if that was by chance or design. Too bad you can't answer. Just wondering mate, if I may have another follow up question, what else has Damon done to you?" Oh, joy, because that was a list he really wanted to rehash in front of everyone. Why couldn't Kol just stick with the one question?

"He turned my sister, but only after spending an entire day compelling himself a playmate. When I asked him why he did it he said it was because Stefan had taken his day ring trapping him in the house and he was _bored_. After that I caught him nailing my mom. I guess he decided to work his way through my whole family or something. Beyond that it's been mostly little things. Comments and things like that."

"Wow, Damon, I can see why you have so many friends." The compulsion to keep quiet kept Damon from responding to Rebekah's words but his eyes said it all. He both hated them all in turn and didn't care one bit what they thought of him.

"Nothing to say, oh well, I guess I'll just talk to Matt-y. It is my turn after all."

"Right you are dear sister. Pose your question." Klaus seemed to be in charge of the whole thing but at the same time he seemed to be really not paying any of them much attention at all he was so focused on Caroline. Matt sincerely hoped that he continued to ignore him for the most part.

"Why do you participate in these schemes to help poor defenseless Elena? From what I hear you don't really want to be there, you spend most of your time hovering near the door always on the brink of leaving." How could they know all that?

"I participate because she's Elena and I've known her my whole life. Mostly though, I participate because if I didn't help and she died, I would lose my mind. She's one of my oldest friends and if I can help her I will, no matter how dangerous it is."

"Then why are you hovering near the door ready to bolt at the slightest opportunity?"

"I already told you what Stefan and Damon did to my sister, hell to my family. Would you want to be in a room with them any longer than necessary? I stay near the door so that I don't lose my temper and attack Damon for violating my sister or Stefan for killing her. I know I would lose those fights."

"Fair enough."

"Brother your turn, though I'm fairly certain I already know what your question will be."

"Indeed. Mr. Donovan, tell me how do you really feel about Caroline?"

"I'm proud of her. My introduction into the supernatural, at least the one I remember, was all about what was happening to the people around me and I could barely deal with it. I damn near shut down completely unable to handle my world turning on its head, but Caroline was different. She woke up in a hospital, alone, transitioning into a vampire with hazy memories that were still out of focus and no idea what was happening to her. Somehow though she dealt with it and no one at the hospital died, sure she killed someone later, but that was after hours of handling everything herself with no help from anyone least of all any of us. I think she's strong and fearless and I wish that I was half the person she's becoming." Even he was stunned by the words coming from him. He knew he thought highly of his friend but he didn't know just how much he looked up to her.

"Well said, mate. Now I think you can guess what my question will be but I'll ask it anyway, and since Alaric's response shined light on a possible loophole I'll go ahead and close that for you so there will be no misunderstandings as to my meaning. Have you ever hurt Caroline in any way?"

"Yes." The next question was the one he dreaded the most, he knew what it would be, and he knew what his answer would be. More than that though he was ashamed of what his answer would be.

"How?"

"When Caroline first transitioned she and I were dating but we soon parted ways, I wasn't over Elena yet. When I found out what she was now, a vampire, I went to her mom the sheriff and I told her. Together she and I worked on a plan to expose her that would have ended with her death. I don't listen to her nearly as much as I should, and I ignore what she says whenever I don't like it, even if it's the truth."

"That is quite the list of sins there, but I'm sure it will be by no means the longest we will hear tonight. So love, after hearing his answers tell me is young Matt here forgiven? Yes or no?"

"Yes."

"Ah, you're no fun." Kol whined off to the side, while he couldn't care less, she had forgiven him.

"Patience brother, I am certain she won't be forgiving everyone tonight. Just have patience. Now witch choose, who goes next?"

"Tyler."

"Oh, my favorite hybrid at last." Everyone could tell Klaus was looking forward to this round of questions. Tyler knew he was screwed, no matter what they asked he doubted Caroline would forgive him.

"Can I go first Nik or would you like to?" They were talking about him like he wasn't even in the room, or worse, like he wasn't even alive. They acted like he was a toy they were passing around, just an object.

"That's quite alright Bekah, you can have the first thrust, don't worry I'll have my turn." There was a phrase he wished he'd never heard coming from Klaus about him, and hoped he would never hear again.

"So mutt, here's my question for you. How do you really feel about being a hybrid?" Why would she ask that? Everyone knew how much he hated being bound to Klaus.

"I love it." Wait what? "I never have to turn again if I don't want to, I'm stronger now than I ever was even as a werewolf, and now I have all the vampire perks that everyone else does. I wouldn't go back to being just a straight up werewolf for anything." Why would he say that, he hated being a hybrid just as much as he hated Klaus and everything he stood for. Didn't he?

"I thought as much, it isn't the being a hybrid that you loathe it's the sire bond that has you all bent out of shape." What? No, it was all of it, wasn't it?

"Oooh, my turn to confuse the wolf boy, not that it seems all that hard to do. If you had to choose between revenge on Klaus and being with your beloved Caroline which would you choose?" Easy.

"Klaus." Shit, how could he say that? He didn't mean that, he knew he would pick Caroline if it came down to it, right?

"Well that's got to be an interesting revelation for you. I ask if you'd pick my brother or your girl and you choose my brother. I bet this evening has completely changed your life."

"No – I didn't…" He couldn't take the words back, no matter how hard he tried or how loudly his screamed at himself to do it, he couldn't.

"Truth compulsion mate, you can't take the words back because any excuse or bumbling words that came out of your mouth right now would be a lie. You were given a choice and you truthfully answered the question posed to you. End of story. Elijah, your turn. Trust me asking this mutt questions is just so much fun."

"Mr. Lockwood, tell me, how do you really feel about Caroline?"

He willed himself with everything he had to say any of the nice things he thought about her, but even as he did he knew that wasn't what he was going to say. While he did think highly of her on occasion deep down he always thought the same thing about her, and that's what he was going to say.

"I think she's an insecure, neurotic, bitchy little twit. She always going against us, her supposed friends, always defending people like Klaus. She never just does what we need her to, she's always got something to say about it first and God help you if you don't want to listen. She's controlling and just an all-around general pain in my ass on most days." He knew what he'd said wasn't all he felt about Caroline but apparently it was what he _really _felt about her.

He looked over towards her intending to apologize for his harsh words, but he couldn't get the words to come, apparently they would be a lie. Thinking about he knew that he wasn't sorry for the words, he was sorry for the fact that they would likely land him in an early grave, there was no way she would forgive him now.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting revelation. Now for my turn mate, so have you every harmed Caroline in any way?"

He tried to keep the words back to just say nothing at all, but again he failed. He wished with all his might that he would survive this experience as the words came flooding out, but deep down he knew he wouldn't. This was the end of the line for him, but at least he would go out with a clean slate, everything out in the open.

"Yes."

"How?"

"I have treated her horribly, I've attacked her both physically and verbally several times. Any time something happens that I don't like, especially when it involves Klaus I take it out on Caroline. I have accused her of having feelings for Klaus, for wanting to step out and leave me for him purposefully playing on her insecurities while all that time I was cheating on her. I did it so that she would never confront me about anything she thought I may have done."

Deafening silence met his words. While everyone knew that Caroline and Tylers relationship had been strained ever since he became a hybrid, none of them had known about even half of what he admitted to. Or at least they hadn't wanted to know about, because if they knew then they would have had to take sides. Everyone turned to Caroline and Klaus when he started speaking again, breaking the suffocating silence.

"So love, it's question time for you. Do you forgive him?"

Caroline didn't know what to say, she couldn't think. Tyler had cheated on her, he'd played on her insecurities to do it. Did she forgive him? Could she forgive him?

"No."

The flash of triumph in Klaus's eyes told her more than anything else that, that was the answer he had been hoping for. Kol and Rebekah whooped in shared happiness, they had been beginning to think that Caroline had a far too forgiving heart, but it appeared the darling girl knew how to hold a grudge when it was warranted.

"I would start the next round, I for one am energized enough to keep going, but I think it would be better if we all took a little break. So Kol why don't you and Rebekah go around and lift the silence compulsion from them and we'll leave them all alone for a bit."

Caroline watched as Klaus and his siblings easily and methodically circled the room, even once the silence was lifted no one spoke. Not yet. After the last original left, the room exploded.

"Caroline I know you're hurt, but you have to tell them you changed your mind when they get back. They will kill Tyler."

"Come on Caroline you don't want Tyler to die over one stupid mistake do you. Just forgive him already."

They didn't understand at all, she couldn't just tell them that he was forgiven because she couldn't forgive him, and she couldn't lie.

It seemed that everyone was in agreement that what Tyler had done to her was acceptable and that she should just get over it. She wished she could she really did, but she couldn't get past the part where he'd played on her insecurities. The cheating and the less than flattering description of her character she could have forgiven, he was only human after all, and a teenage boy at that. She could have told herself that he was just a jerk and that he may not deserve her forgiveness, but she did. Holding a grudge only ever hurt the holder not that offender. All these things she could have said, she could have forced herself to get past them, but not that.

Everyone who knew her for more than a few minutes knew that she had abandonment issues, among a whole slew of other insecurities. The fact that Tyler had decided that her emotional wounds would be a useful cover for his infidelity hurt more than anything else that had ever happened to her. He had manipulated her, used her, he was as bad as Damon! No, she would not forgive him, not now, probably not ever. Whatever the originals had planned, whether they killed him or not, that would never change.

Klaus sat upstairs with his sibling sipping his bourbon while they all listened to Carolines so called friends chatter away at her, basically pleading for her to save the Lockwood boy. When the idea of this game had first come to mind he and his siblings had all agreed that they would use the opportunity to show Caroline the truths that had so far eluded her. He knew his sweetheart was intelligent, but even the smartest people could easily fool themselves about the people they saw as their family or friends.

He had been slightly surprised when his entire family had decided that Caroline was worth the effort, normally when one of them felt any sort of emotion for someone outside the family the others would do everything in their power to destroy that person, but not Caroline. When he'd asked them why he'd been stunned to hear their response. "Because Niklaus anyone who understands us all so well is already a part of this family." They saw Caroline as a sibling now, as someone far younger and more naïve than any of them had been for a very long time. They would help her to see the truth beyond the lies, to see herself for who and what she really was, and to see her "family" the same way.

"Well, we've given them enough time to further hang themselves, shall we return?"

"Yes, lets, did you notice how she has yet to speak to any of them? The compulsion was lifted from her as well but she hasn't said one word." Rebekah seemed almost proud of Caroline for keeping her silence.

"I did notice that, what do you make of it?" Normally when someone as emotional as his darling girl was became angry they made sure everyone around them was fully aware of that fact.

"I believe she's starting to see them all for what they are. Have you been listening to them? They've all been pleading for the mutt, but so far not one of them has asked how she's doing after finding out that her supposed boyfriend was nothing like what she'd believed them to be. Not to mention she's not the only one down there holding her tongue."

"Yes, I have yet to hear from the quarterback or the teacher. Do you think they've begun to learn their own lesson?"

"Only one way to know for sure."

"Quite right." Clapping his hands together he watched as the whole room fell back into the silence of before. "Are we ready to continue? Good. So witch who's next?"

"Jeremy."

"Lovely, so who wants to go first?"

**A/N – Okay so this was the first half of the game. As for the Tyler cheating thing, that's a reference to Hayley because I am still not convinced that those two were just acting for Klaus's benefit. Next chapter will be the last I swear. In it you will hear from Jeremy, Stefan, Damon, Elena, and Bonnie. Then we'll see what their punishments will be. Hope you like how this "game" has turned out. **


	5. Round Two

**A/N - Now we start round two. Enjoy!**

"Jeremy."

Bonnie hated herself as soon as the name was out of her mouth, but she knew or rather prayed that he would be forgiven for anything he'd done to Caroline. The two of them had barely interacted in the last few years and even recently it was like they were in different halves of their little circle of friends. He would stay with the boys and she would mostly avoid them for one reason or another causing little to no overlap between them unless absolutely necessary.

"Lovely, so who wants to go first?" Klaus sounded so smug, but she wondered what his answers would be if these questions were posed to him. She doubted he would be forgiven either, but he had the benefit of not being asked. Jeremy had better be okay or she would never forgive any of them especially Caroline.

After she had refused to help Tyler she wasn't so sure anymore that they would all get out of this safe and sound, like she'd thought at the beginning. She knew the originals were vicious and they'd likely get a little hurt, but when they'd said that Caroline would decide their fates for a moment she'd thought everything would be alright, and then Tyler just kept talking and Caroline wouldn't see reason about it, and now she was frightened. For the first time since this whole "game" began she was really and truly scared.

Closing her eyes she sent up a silent prayer that the rest of them would be forgiven, except for Damon who she was sure was going to burn before it was all said and done. It wasn't like they didn't have enough people waiting for them on the other side to hear her after all. She just hoped there was a way for them to help.

Opening her eyes again she saw Rebekah standing in front of Jeremy her hands on her hips, apparently it was her turn to go first.

"So baby Gilbert tell me, how do _you_ feel about all the effort put into saving your sisters sorry existence?"

Jeremy took a deep breath, what kind of question was that? Elena was his sister, what did she think his answer would be.

"She's my sister, I want her to survive and have a nice normal life no matter what it costs. She deserves it." His answer seemed to amuse the blonde original. Apparently his convictions were funny.

"Why?" What? What kind of question was that? He opened his mouth to ask her to explain but apparently the compulsion didn't need anymore information it understood what she was asking even when he was a little behind.

"She deserves to be saved from what Klaus wants to do to her because no one deserves what he's planning. Being a human bloodbag, never having any control over your own life. What kind of a monster does that to someone else? My sister is a good friend, an amazing sister, and genuinely a good person. Why wouldn't she deserve to have her life back?" Once again his answer seemed to amuse her, it was like she knew something he didn't. Whatever, as long as he, Elena, Matt and Bonnie made it out of this he wouldn't care one way or the other. He just wanted this whole thing to be over and done already.

"I suppose that would really be a matter of opinion and perspective. Oh, well, your turn brother dear."

Kol stepped up taking several steps closer until they were almost touching. He couldn't believe he'd once thought of this bastard as his friend. He supposed it was true what they said, teenagers really did do stupid things.

"Hello old friend, I'd ask how you've been but I pretty much already know the answer to that so we'll just move right along to my question for you. You say that no one deserves what my dear brother has planned for your darling sister so tell me, if it were Caroline in Elena's place would you be so eager to save her from the same fate?"

Of course he would, no one deserved what Klaus was doing to Elena. Why would they think his answer would be anything but yes?

"No." Apparently because is was. Where did that come from?

"Why?"

He racked his brain trying to think of the best way to put it, the best way to phrase his answer, but the compulsion would let him change what he was about to say. Brutal honesty was all that was allowed, there was no room for sparing someones feelings or cushioning the blow of your answer.

"Because Caroline isn't Elena."

"So I guess when you said that no one deserves to be treated like your sister is right now, what you really meant was that if they were being treated that way someone else should really do something about it, huh. Not your sister, not your problem."

Damn it, he hadn't meant it like that. Not really. The compulsion had twisted his words!

"Your turn Elijah, though honestly your question is getting quite repetitive and down right boring. You should really try mixing it up a bit, variety is the spice of life after all." Looking back and forth between the two he would almost say they were teasing each other, but the originals didn't do that. Did they?

"I will take your words under advisement brother. Now if you are quite done I have a question to ask Mr. Gilbert."

"Done, promise." Kol dragged his fingers across his lips to mime zipping his lips.

"Good. Now Mr. Gilbert please tell us, what do you really think of Caroline Forbes?"

"I don't."

"Please elaborate."

"I don't think of her. She's just always there. The only time I ever really have anything to do with her is when we're all together in a group and even then she and I don't really interact. Elena's my sister, I'm dating Bonnie, Tyler is my best friend, Matt is a stand up guy but we don't really interact, Stefan and Damon I'd rather avoid if given the chance, and Alaric is well... he's Alaric, he's more a parent than a friend. Caroline isn't any of those things for me. She and Elena and Bonnie have been friends for years so I've seen her around but she and I aren't friends with each other, so I don't really think of her at all unless something comes up where I need her help to save one of the others."

Silence followed his answer and he knew why. What he'd said had been harsh true, but it had also been completely honest. Everyone who knew them all knew that he and Caroline weren't exactly in each others orbit.

"Well, that was certainly one of the more interesting answers to your question Elijah. Now, my turn. So tell me mate, have you ever hurt Caroline in any way?"

"Maybe." What? What did he mean by that? This compulsion to tell the truth was leaving him beyond confused.

"What the hell do you mean maybe? This is really a yes or no answer type of question, care to try again?"

"I say maybe because I truly don't know. Some of my actions over our many schemes and plans could have hurt Caroline or lead to her getting hurt but if they did I never paid enough attention to her afterwards to really notice. When the dust settled I was always with Elena or Bonnie and Caroline was always either alone or with Stefan or Tyler. Like I said before we never really interacted, so my answer is maybe."

"Alright then. So Caroline love time for your answer. Do you forgive him for his inattention and uncaring ways?"

"Yes." Jeremy finally let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding. She had forgiven him, not that he thought there had been anything to forgive, he'd done nothing wrong as far as he was concerned. He was just glad that now it was unlikely that he would die for it though.

"Oh you're no fun, I had a really special one planned for him too." He never wanted to know what Kol meant by that. Ever.

"Moving on then Bonnie, who's next on your little hit list?"

Bonnie knew she was running out of options just as she knew from the looks on their faces who they were waiting for her to name. Well, they could just keep waiting she wouldn't name Elena until the very last second. Only when there were no other options would she go down that path. Unfortunately that only left her with the Salvatore brothers now. She couldn't say Damon, not now. Everyone knew that Caroline would never forgive him for everything he'd done, his fate was as good as sealed, and she couldn't do that to Elena yet. Despite what she said, she knew that Elena loved Damon, and if he died from tonights little game she would be devastated. So she would put if off a little longer, even if she would hate herself for it forever.

"Stefan."

"Well then Ripper ready for your turn in the hot seat, so to speak?"

Stefan tried to hold his answer back, but found that he couldn't, which was one of the most irritating feelings in the world for someone with his control issues. Ever since the game had begun and the questions started he'd gone over and over in his mind everything he'd ever done to Caroline versus everything he'd ever done for her. Honestly he didn't know if he would ever be forgiven, or even if he should be, all he could do was play the game and hope that at least Elena made it out of this alive. He already knew his brothers fate was pretty much set in stone.

"I'm ready." Keeping his voice calm and eyes steady he waited for them to begin. There was nothing else to do, his time of judgment had finally come. Watching Kol walk up to stand in front of him, that look of demented glee in his eyes had to be one of the scarier things he'd seen in his long life.

"Good on you mate, being a man about this whole thing. Now what should I ask you then? There are so many interesting things about you, and I only get to pick one, a real shame that, I could pick you apart for weeks and not get tired of it. Well, why don't we go with how do you really feel about this little group of yours? Let me hear your thoughts about each and every one of them, save Caroline of course wouldn't want to steal Elijah's question when it seems like he's only got the one after all." Kol had turned to bow towards his older brother in mock deference which only seemed to amuse the elder original rather than irritate him as was the norm. Why couldn't they just start fighting amongst themselves and forget about them long enough for them to think up a way to escape.

He knew he was stalling with his inner monologue, he was trying to put off answering as long as possible but that feeling, that need to answer was already fighting with him, he knew he would lose.

"Thank you for your consideration and restraint brother dear."

"You're quite welcome. Come on then Ripper let us hear it. What do you think of your _friends_ here?" The childish bastard was looking right at him, both eyebrows raised in mock question. He couldn't put it off any longer the second asking of the same question had strengthened the urge to talk.

"Alaric sort of became a part of the group by default really. Originally he was in Mystic Falls to hunt vampires, to hunt Damon really but he didn't know that at the time, but then after everything started to spiral out of control we somehow found ourselves all on the same side. I respect him for not only what he's done but for what he doesn't do, even when justifiably provoked by all of us, he has better judgment and more restraint than most of us combined. Matt, got dragged into our world kicking and screaming very much against his will. I try to avoid him if possible out of guilt over what happened with his sister Vikki. He brought her up earlier and the truth is that every time I see him all I can think about is what he's lost, what we took from him. With all the knowledge he now has about vampires and how we live and die, a lesser man would have sought revenge by now, but all he does is try to stay on the fringes of our little meetings to avoid temptation. He's stronger than most men his age, or even most men my age.

"Tyler is another person who found themselves thrown into our lives without much of a choice, thanks to Katherine. It's amazing how often that happens with us. Honestly I don't think much of him at all except to disapprove of most of the choices he makes. He's rash, opinionated, stubborn, and an all around pain to be around, but he's a part of the group now so I tolerate him. Most days anyway. Bonnie, is more powerful than any witch I've ever met, but she's also more reckless. Being apart of this group, being friends with Elena and dating Jeremy makes her put her life on the line again and again without much thought to the consequences. I worry about her almost as much as I worry about Elena, which is really saying alot about how she behaves. She rushes headlong into danger without thinking it through first, and even if she does think about it she still goes for it regardless of the risk to her own personal safety. I can never decide if she's brave, foolish, or if she just wants to die. Jeremy is Elena's kid brother, which makes his life important to me, because he's important to her. Other than that, I find him childish, arrogant, and far too stubborn for his own good or the good of those around him. He's always so sure that he knows the right way to go or that right thing to do that he never listens to anyone who says otherwise, not even his sister.

"Elena is an amazing person and I love her more than I've loved anyone in a long time, but she's very much a teenager. She's in turns indecisive and stubborn. She's so sure that it's up to her to save everyone else that she puts herself in situations that makes everyone around her risk even more to save her. If she stopped for a minute and thought things through before she did them we'd all be alot better off. At the same time she's only seventeen so doing anything but what she's already done would be counter to her teenage nature. No one thinks things through too well when their her age, they think their invincible and that everything will always work out for the better in the end no matter what happens along the way. Damon is my brother, and I love him. Unfortunately that doesn't necessarily mean that I like him even half the time or respect him most days of the year. In fact I think the main reason he and Klaus don't get along besides Elena, is because they are far too much alike. Damon would never admit it, and the rest of us keep coming up with excuses for his actions but my brother is just as vicious as yours, he just refuses to acknowledge it, and so do we."

When he'd finished speaking and the last of his words had finished echoing off the walls he saw the stunned expressions on the faces of all of his friends, and the mockery on the faces of the original who's question started it all.

"Oooh, I bet tonight has changed some opinions hasn't it. Wow, been bottling all that up for long have you?"

"Since the beginning."

"Well I've had my fun, your turn Bekah."

Closing his eyes he tried to will himself somewhere else, hell anywhere else. He'd thought that their questions wouldn't hurt him, he'd thought that he'd already faced all of his truths but apparently there had still been a few that he'd been hiding even from himself.

"Oh, don't be like that Stefan, it's almost over I promise. Worst of it's likely over and done now right? Now, on to the best bit of it. Tell me Mr. Salvatore why did you ever pursue Elena Gilbert in the first place?"

"Because she looked exactly like Katherine and I wanted to know why. I never planned to fall for her, I just wanted to know how much like Katherine she really was. If the likeness was only skin deep." He hated himself even as the words fled his mouth. How could he say that?

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt to hear. Sorry darling Elena, almost forgot you were there."

He hadn't meant to say that, any of it, but it must have been the truth. The actual truth, no hiding or evading. Two more questions and his part in this would be over for now. He could do this, he just needed to ignore the looks he was getting from all of his possibly former friends.

Some looked hurt, others betrayed, and some just looked angry. Strangely enough though Alaric and Matt just looked understanding, as if they knew what drove the feeling that he had been forced to put on display for everyone to poke and prod at. That wouldn't make any sense, unless they shared some of the sentiments he'd spoken of, which was impossible wasn't it. This was Elena, everyone loved her, even him deep down, in his own way.

"Now you know my question Stefan but I shall ask it anyway. How do you really feel about Caroline Forbes?"

"She's my best friend. I used to have this friend, her name was Lexie, she and I were together for nearly a century. She kept me sane, helped me regain my control ... my sanity every time I lost it again. Caroline is just like her. She makes everyone around her _feel_ again. Damn near everyone she meets she brings their humanity closer to the surface, she can't help it, she's just so good and amazing that it rubs off on those around her. When she looks at you she sees all the good that's in you no matter how buried it might be at the moment, and she drags it back out into the light again, past all the darkness you'd let surround you for so long. She's the strongest, kindest, most beautiful person I've ever known." For the first time he didn't regret the answer he'd been forced to give, Caroline really was all of those things.

"Just curious then, tell us how do you really feel about Elena? We know now why you pursued her in the first place, but now that you know her, how does she measure up?" Why! Why did he have to ask him that?

"At first I thought she was a lot like Caroline is now. Kind, beautiful inside and out, caring about those around her. It wasn't until later that I realized that she was only that way because nothing much had come along yet to really push her. Yes, her parents had died, but that had been an accident and while it had made her more caring especially towards her own brother and family it wasn't until the supernatural invaded her life that I finally saw the truth. She tries to be all those things, but when it comes down to it, she's just not. When push comes to shove she plays favorites. Everyone in her life has a specific place on her list of people she cares about and if... when it comes down to a choice there's always someone that she'll save over someone else. No one is on equal footing with her." He kept his eyes downcast knowing what he'd see if he dared to look up. The silence of the room was charged with disbelief and anger. He couldn't face that, not yet. His turn wasn't over yet.

"Interesting Ripper, now on to mine. Normally I would give us all a moment to digest that little revelation, but I simply can't wait to move on." Of course he couldn't after him the only options left were Damon and Elena the two people he and his siblings seemed to hate the most out of all of them. "So tell me Stefan, have you ever hurt Caroline in any way?"

"Yes." It nearly hurt to just say the words. After knowing Caroline for so long, and getting to know her so well, his early actions with her still haunted and shamed him. Now he would have to drag it all out into the open for everyone to see.

"How?"

"When I first met Caroline I saw her as Tyler did. Shallow and unimportant. I was so focused on Elena and getting to know her that I didn't give much thought to her feelings and when she tried to introduce herself to me I cast her aside without a second thought. When I saw her again she was with Damon. I could tell she'd been compelled but I was more worried about my brothers plans for Elena than I was about Caroline's safety so I just turned away and left her with him. When I needed to subdue my brother I knew that I wouldn't be able to trick him into drinking something spiked with vervain he was too paranoid for that so instead I gave the vervain to Caroline. After Elena publicly chastised Damon for abusing Caroline I knew what he would do, so I waited, and when he fed on her I watched until the vervain hit him and he fell over. After that I took my brother away to lock him up and I left her there for someone else to find. Ever since I've tried to make things up to her, helping her during her transition and being her friend, but she's always been more of a friend to me than I was to her. I don't listen to her, I nearly always side against her with Elena or someone else, and I always say I'll apologize for it later but never do."

"Quite the list of sins there Ripper." He could tell from Klaus's tone that even if Caroline did forgive him by some miracle, Klaus wouldn't. He might survive this but he was fairly certain that by the time it was over he may not want to anymore. "Fortunately for you it's not my forgiveness you require. So love, what will it be for Stefan then? Is he forgiven?"

Caroline didn't know what to think, her brain was frozen so that she couldn't think. She had always known deep, deep down that Stefans bond with Damon ran deeper than his bond with her. Especially in the beginning. She hadn't ever expected anything else really, Damon was his brother after all, and no matter how close a friend you were family always comes first. Hearing it though, knowing that he'd left her lying there on that stupid lawn, alone in the dark. That was so much worse. She tried to weigh it against everything he'd done for her since, but she honestly didn't know if she forgave him or not.

So she did the only thing she could do. She closed her eyes and let the compulsion take hold. She couldn't lie, so this was the only way she could think to tell the truth.

"Yes."

Opening her eyes again she found herself staring straight into Klaus's baby blues. He was smirking, completely smug in his knowledge of what she'd just done. He knew as well as she did that she hadn't been certain herself what the answer would be, and he found it amusing. Well screw him, he had his answer now he could move on.

"Good on you love, shall we keep going. Bonnie darling, make your final choice."

Oh my god! It really would be the final choice. They'd established at the beginning that Bonnie herself would go last so the next pick would cement the final order of things. The game was almost played out, she didn't know how she felt about that. Part of her was almost relieved while the rest of her was scared about what was still to come. Truth was hard enough to bare, the consequences had to be so much worse. She couldn't stop her eyes from once again darting over to the pales of vervain near the fireplace. Sending up a final prayer that they would somehow survive this she refocused on the room just in time to hear Bonnie's inevitable answer.

"Damon."

Oh joy, just what they all needed, to relive the hell that was Damon freaking Salvatore.

"Alright then, shall we begin? I imagine we have a lot to talk about don't we Damon."

Damon looked up at Rebekah as she moved to stand in front of him, very much in his personal space, and tried to appear unaffected even though he knew he was more than likely going to die in this shitty little room. Why oh why did the originals have to have such a hard on for vampire barbie? Normally in situations like this he could console himself with likely plans of escape or reasons why his bravado would carry him through to the other side of things, but not this time. No because Caroline just had to go and get herself mixed up with Klaus of all people. This was going to end horribly for them, for all of them, but most especially for him.

"Tell us Damon. What all have you done to hurt Caroline?" Wow they were really just diving into things with him. Starting with the question that everyone else was lead up to. As he felt the compulsion take hold to tell them everything, he closed is eyes so he wouldn't have to see the original bitch as he did. The last thing he wanted to see as he basically hung himself was the face of a smug original bitch!

"Well let's see. I've compelled her for blood, and sex, and information back when she was still human. In fact I nearly killed her a few times back then like I did Vikki Donovan. It was my blood that turned her in the first place, though I hold only partial blame for that mess because it was Bonnie who made me give it to her in the first place and it was Katherine who actually killed her. After she turned I tried to kill her, and I would have succeeded if not for my ever valiant little brother. Although she did kick my ass earlier that same night so I figure we're even on that score. After that it was mainly intimidation, threats, and a little bodily harm for a while until her dad showed up in town and I nearly killed him, mainly because I was bored, and because Elena was being particularly wishy-washy that day. Then again I only didn't kill him because vampire barbie over there charged to his rescue and actually won the fight, injuring me, so again I say we're pretty much even on that one. Beyond that it's been mainly snarky comments and helping her friends emotionally manipulate and blackmail her into doing things that frankly I'm surprised she's survived til now."

The silence after his confessions was deafening. No one spoke, or moved, or even breathed very loudly. Everyone was waiting for Klaus to react. So everyone was taken off guard when it wasn't Klaus who attacked him, but Kol. Kol's hand was in his chest before anyone else could react, his strong fingers wrapped around his stuttering heart for what seemed like hours, but was in reality only seconds before he spoke.

"You know you seem rather cavalier about your treatment of Caroline. Why is that?"

"Because it's all in the past really. Besides the manipulation and snarky comments this mostly all happened over a year ago. Besides you didn't know her when she was human, trust me, she deserved it."

His last words made Kol so angry that he began to slowly twist his hand making the pain unbearable and forcing his skin to begin to grey and harden in preparation for his death.

"Kol! Control yourself or you'll kill him far quicker than he deserves."

"Right you are sister. Forgive me brothers, I momentarily forgot myself. It won't happen again. So tell me Damon. Why? Why did you choose Caroline?" As he spoke he slowly released his grip and drew his hand back, most likely fighting temptation.

"Because she was Elena's friend, which would give me the in I needed to get invited into the Gilbert house, and because she was almost always alone. I would have taken Bonnie, or at least tried to since I didn't know she was a witch at the time, but she was always with someone. Elena, Stefan, her uber witch grams. Caroline was the friend that they always pretty much forgot, but she was pushy enough that compelling her to do something no matter what wouldn't raise suspicions. She was perfect for what I needed at the time."

"Well, I suppose that answers that question, and the one I had about what kind of vampire you are as well. Elijah brother, I believe you're up."

"Thank you Kol. Though I do believe that I shall abstain from my normal question. I could not care less about how Salvatore feels about Ms. Forbes. So instead I shall as you, why was it so important to you to get close to Elena? It was my understanding that during that time, you were far more obsessed with Katarina."

Wow, another direct hit. How was it that these bastards knew just what to ask, knew just the questions he didn't want to answer?

"I was curious about her. I had been since I first met her, the night her parents died. I had some time to kill before I could do the ritual that I thought would free Katherine, what a waste of time that was, so I decided to get to know Elena."

Another stunned silence. Well at least he was consistent.

"Fascinating as your doppelgänger hijinks are shall we continue. I only have one question for you Damon and know that it will be the most important question that you answer. Are you sorry?"

Was he sorry? Really, that's what the big bad wanted to know. Well the answer was simple really, and it was obvious too.

"No."

"I thought as much, but it wasn't me that needed convincing. Now that everyone's on the same page now, on to the final question. Caroline love, do you forgive Damon?"

Caroline didn't know what to say. Looking around at all of her friends she saw them silently begging her to say yes. To not condemn another one of them to whatever fate the originals had in store for those she failed to forgive. Wait,no, that wasn't really true. Elena and Stefan wanted that, but everyone else seemed more angry with Damon than inclined to save him. Maybe she would come out of this with a few friends left after all.

"No."

"Very good love. Now I believe it's time for another break. So we'll just un-compel you and be on our way. Don't worry though we'll have dinner sent down so you can feast while you talk among yourselves. I know some of you are getting rather peckish."

Great, more alone time with her friends. Just what she needed.

**A/N - So that's the end of round two. One more round and then we'll get to the consequences of this little game. If you have any suggestions for what to do to anyone let me know in the reviews and as always if I decide to use your suggestion I'll mention you in the Authors Note at the start of the chapter. Two more chapters to go, I think, unless something else comes to mind for me to do.**


	6. A penny for

Bonnie let the voices of her friends wash over her unheard as they once again pleaded with Caroline to change things, only this time she didn't jump in. It took her a moment to see it but she wasn't the only one who held their tongue. In fact neither Matt or Alaric said anything either, they both seemed to be as lost in thought as she was. How could the others be pleading for Damon's life after everything he'd said? How could they ask Caroline to forgive him after everything he'd just admitted to doing to her? Were they all really that selfish? Was she? She knew that a lot of the time they were all so focused on Elena and making sure that she was okay that a lot of other things tended to fall through the cracks, to be forgotten or even purposefully pushed aside, but for the first time since this whole supernatural mess started she began to wonder if that was really a good thing to do. She had thought that it was, she'd thought that putting everything on the line for a friend was what you were supposed to do when everything hit the fan, but now she wondered if ensuring the safety of one friend at the expense of another was what she'd been doing this whole time.

Yes, she loved Elena and wanted her to have a good life, especially now after losing so much, but where did that leave Caroline in the grand scheme of things? From everything she'd heard so far, it left her out on her ass, used and abused by them all more often than not. What kind of friend did that make her? A good one or a self absorbed bitch. She'd thought they had all been on the same side of things, and if someone had asked her before this little game to name her friends she would have numbered Caroline high on the list, but was she really. Just saying someone was your friend wasn't nearly enough, you had to act the part as well, and she hadn't been doing that since the Salvatores came to town, if not before even then. From the sound of things Caroline was their friend, but they weren't really her friend, none of them were. She made a new vow to herself then in there, if she survived this game of the originals she would change that, she would start to be there for Caroline more, she would finally be the friend she deserved. Then again, why wait for tomorrow what you could begin today.

"Everyone shut up and leave Caroline alone!"

Matt was stunned by everything he'd learned so far, he'd always been so focused on himself and what the supernatural had done to his life he hadn't really noticed anything else. He'd been so focused on surviving the hell that his life had become that he'd become one of those people that he always hated in the past. Someone who when faced with the choice of what to do turned a blind eye and did nothing at all, just because it was the easier path. The path of least resistance had never been his style, at least it hadn't been until vampires stopped being myths to him. He supposed he'd always known that this single minded drive to _save_ Elena was wrong, even bordering on obsessive. He didn't know about everyone else but for him it had always been more about what saving her would symbolize than anything else. Not that he didn't want to save her, or that he didn't think that she deserved the life they were all trying desperately to give her, it was more like that wasn't the only reason for his involvement in all these schemes.

He'd had a lot of time to think about things since this game began and what he now understood was that for him, and more than likely for some if not all of the others as well, it was less about _actually_ saving Elena from her fate and more about proving that they _could_ save her. Saving Elena from the Originals proved that the supernatural could be overcome, that even though they were bigger and stronger they could still be beaten. For that reason, he'd poured all of his energy into doing the impossible, and he'd hurt one of his closest friends along the way. What kind of friend did that make him? He was jerked out of his thoughts at the sound of Bonnie's voice echoing off the walls, demanding that everyone back off. Just another example of his single minded selfishness, why hadn't he thought to help Caroline now any more than he'd thought to help her all the times before? Why wasn't he a better friend to the one person who'd always been there for him, the one person who he now knew would always forgive him?

No! He was done being that person, he would be better, for Caroline and for himself. The old Matt Donovan was dead and gone, he would be someone worth her forgiveness from now on. He would be a good man and stop being such an apathetic one.

Alaric listened with half an ear while everyone around him droned on about things they couldn't change. He wasn't really paying attention his focus was more on watching Caroline. Now that he looked for it, he saw how she never really hid her emotions, it was all there in her eyes for the world to see. What he saw now, broke his heart, she looked so resigned. Like she'd known all along that when it came down to it everyone would side with Damon her abuser over her. It wasn't until Bonnie began to stand up for her that her normal light seemed to fill her eyes. Was that what they'd done to her? Had they made it so that even the smallest crumb of friendship, of help, made her so happy. Did she expect so little of them? Did they really do so little for her?

Yes. After listening to answer after answer over the hours he knew that's exactly what they did. Sometimes they didn't even do that much for her. How could they have all been so blind? So cruel? At this point he didn't see how any of them deserved her forgiveness, and he thought she was a saint for granting as much of it as she had. She really was the best of them.

Tyler was completely numb inside by now. The familiar anger that had been his constant companion for most of his life was gone, leaving nothing in its wake. He was going to die, he knew it as well as everyone else did, there was no getting out of it this time. No clever plan thought up at the last minute, no calvary, nothing. He supposed he could take comfort in the fact that he wouldn't be going alone, he knew at least Damon would be coming with him for that particular ride, and after what he'd confessed it was more than likely that Damon would have it worse than he would. He listened for a moment while everyone plead for Damon's life as they'd plead for his own, even though he knew it would be useless. They were all asking for the wrong thing after all. They kept begging Caroline to change her mind, but that wasn't what needed to be changed, it wasn't her mind that wouldn't forgive what they'd done. It was her heart. He knew from experience that changing what was in your heart, was a lot harder than it sounded.

Once an emotion was in your heart, no matter what it was, it was there to stay. The darker emotions more so than any others. Anger, pain, bitterness, regret, etc. They stuck with you, and no matter how much your head told you to let it go, and to leave it all behind you, your heart would hold on just that little bit harder. He understood now, he hadn't at first until the anger had subsided but he got it now, Caroline was just as compelled as the rest of them. Pleading for their lives, and saying they were forgiven, it wasn't so much that she didn't want to do it, though on some level that might be true too, it was that she couldn't do it. Because that would be a lie and right now she couldn't lie to Klaus anymore than they could.

Stefan didn't know what to think anymore than he knew what to do. What he did know was that after Damon's little confession Klaus was going to rip him apart. His brother was probably going to die soon, and die horribly, and he didn't know how to feel about it. On the one hand Damon was his brother and he loved him more than anything for over a century. On the other hand after everything he'd just confessed to doing to his best friend, not to mention all the other things he'd done over the years that hadn't been done to Caroline, he wasn't sure anymore if he didn't deserve whatever Klaus was going to do to him.

Yes, his brothers emotions had been resurfacing more and more of late, his humanity was coming back because of Elena, but was that enough. Did wanting his brother to live make him a bad friend to Caroline? Did wanting him to die for what he'd done make him a bad brother to Damon? Was there even a right answer here?

Damon wanted to tell Elena to stop trying to save him, wanted to tell her that he wasn't worth it, but the words just wouldn't come. He had known from the beginning that he was done for, ever since the rules of the game had been explained. She had known it too, he knew that much as well, Elena never had any blinders on when it came to his past behavior. She'd known what he'd done to blondie, and she'd known that it was next to impossible that he would be forgiven, but she wouldn't be Elena if she didn't at least try to save him. He would have that at least, when the end came for him, he would have the memory of the girl of his dreams trying so hard to keep him safe, to keep him with her. Screw everything else, that was what mattered to him more than anything.

Elena couldn't believe it! Bonnie was sticking up for Caroline, she was agreeing with her, she was saying that Damon deserved to die. Alright so, yes what he'd done had been wrong, and no, he hadn't been sorry like she'd always thought he was. That didn't mean he deserved to die! It was all in the past now, he'd changed so much, he was becoming a better man. All he needed was a little more time, a second chance, and her friends were acting like that was too much to ask for. Like he didn't deserve those things when she knew deep down that he did. Caroline had to change her mind, she had to reason with Klaus on their behalf, she had to fix this. It was all her fault anyway, if Klaus hadn't been so obsessed with her none of this would have ever even happened, this _game_ was all her doing. What kind of friend did that make her? Dragging them all into this. Maybe she should re-evaluate who her friends really were, from the reactions of some of the people here she'd been wrong about who she could really turn to. Her friends, her real friends, wouldn't do this to her.

Caroline couldn't believe it! Bonnie was standing up for her, and if the head nodding was anything to go by Matt and Alaric were agreeing with her. They were siding with her over Elena, on purpose. This was one of the best moments she'd had in a long time, and considering that she was tied up in the basement of a psychopathic immortal waiting to be tortured that was saying a lot about her recent history. Maybe her friends did care about her after all, or at least some of them did. She could live with that. She was saved from more of her own thoughts by the sound of the door being opened, what now?

All the vampires were given one bloodbag each, while Alaric, Matt, and Bonnie were each provided with a simple turkey sandwich and a bottle of water. At least they hadn't forgotten that not all of them required blood to survive. As everyone did their best to eat while still chained up, and for most of them, the vampires especially it was a acrobatic feat they were all startled as Damon began to yell and spit out the blood he'd managed to swallow. Through his numerous curses one word was clear, vervaine. The Originals had spiked his blood bag. It was still edible, if uncomfortable, but they knew that he wouldn't eat it now. Then came the inevitable argument from Elena, that someone give up half their blood bag to Damon so he would have some un-tainted blood in his system as well. That one request set everyone off, for one reason or another.

Klaus listened to them all bicker and argue. Honestly those people could argue about just about anything given the chance. What had surprised him though was the little witch coming to the rescue of his darling girl. It seemed that at least one of them was learning their lesson early. Glancing around the room at his siblings he found them all in good spirits as expected. Listening in to their "private" moments and conversations had to be the best parts of this game so far. They were hilarious! They were all so reactionary, the only thing that would have been more fun, would have been seeing the looks on their faces when things started to stop going their way. When the witch stood up for Caroline over poor pitiful Elena, when Damon got his first mouthful of his evening meal, when his darling girl refused to bow down to their petty demands. All very much against their norm, they should have known it was bound to happen eventually. Things can't go your way forever after all.

Standing he motioned to his siblings to follow, it was time to finish this. As much fun as the game has been, it was drawing to a close now, and he couldn't wait to reach the final act.

"Shall we continue on then?"


	7. Round three

Bonnie knew her part in the game was done. They had said she would be last and with only her and Elena left, there was really no choice left to make. Half of her was relieved that she wouldn't have to say her friends name, to actually be the cause of Elena's suffering. Because she was going to suffer, of that there was no doubt, but at the same time she was furious that it had come to this. She never wanted this, not for any of her friends, but especially not for Elena. Looking around the room she saw the same level of apprehension on the faces of all of her friends, they all knew deep down that Elena was on the same footing as Damon as far as the Originals were concerned. Their questions already proved that. Forgiven or not, this was not going to end well for the doppelgänger among them.

Taking a deep breath as she watched them all take up their places around Elena, except for Klaus who just went back to his now normal position next to Caroline, she held her head up high. She would not flinch. It wasn't much but maybe seeing her bravado would help give Elena the courage she was going to need. It was the least she could do for her friend since she was powerless to do anything else.

Elena kept her eyes down, refusing to look at them, she knew it was stupid but it felt like it would be easier if she just didn't look at their smug faces. Bracing herself she waited for the first question to come, Kol was first up for her, and for the life of her she couldn't remember what she'd ever done to deserve that.

"So then _Elena_, let's get started shall we. Tell me how do you feel about your friends efforts to save you from the dreadful fate my brother has planned for you? We've heard all about how they feel about having to constantly drag your delectable ass out of danger, but how do you feel about it. Do you truly believe you deserve everything they've done for you?"

She tried not to answer, she really did, but the words came flowing out of her mouth no matter how stubbornly she tried to keep silent.

"Yes. They're my friends, why shouldn't they help me?" Why shouldn't they? True friends, good friends, help one another. It's not like she'd ever asked anyone to do these things for her, they volunteered.

"True enough, but would you help them if the situations were reversed. Tell me, if Klaus had come to Mystic Falls in pursuit of Caroline instead of you, would you have stood between them as your friends stand between the two of you?" Of course she would.

"No." Or not.

"Why not?" Elena tried to take a minute, to really think about her answer before she spoke, but she couldn't. The compulsion knew the truth she tried to hide, even from herself, and that's what came out.

"Because I'm human. Humans shouldn't stand between two vampires." That was beyond true, a human in a vampire fight was nothing more than cannon fodder.

"Matt's human and yet you have no problem dragging him into your plans and schemes time after time."

"Yeah, because most of our plans seem to hinge on the fact that no one ever suspects Matt of being able to do anything to them. Most vampires are too arrogant to see Matt as anything even resembling a threat. We need him." Why wouldn't he just let this go?

"So what you meant to say was that humans shouldn't place themselves between a vampire and their target unless that target is you." No.

"Yes." NO! That's not what she meant, was it?

"Interesting. Your turn sister." Kol took a single step back and waved his hand forward as though giving his sister center stage. Why were they always so... so... theatrical?

"Elena, do you really feel bad about what Caroline has gone through because of you? For you. I don't see how you could, after all you are in love with the man who did the most to her, but still the question deserves an answer don't you agree brother?" Rebekah looked back towards Kol, eyebrows raised in silent question.

"Yes of course it does, even if we all already know what that answer will be." It's like the two of them were getting off on this. Knowing them, they probably were, and what kind of question was that. Of course she felt back for Caroline, hadn't she said so like a million times before, and even if she didn't what business was it of theirs?

"No I don't." And she was feeling more and more okay with that the longer this "game" dragged on for.

"Why not?" Good question, hopefully she had a good answer.

"Because she brought most of it on herself. If she'd been a little less needy and pathetic most of that stuff could have been avoided." She slammed her mouth shut with an audible click of her teeth. While that was true to a degree, she wished she'd been able to phrase it in a way that was a bit less harsh.

"Alright Elijah, your turn, though I think that last answer may have been a preview for yours."

Elijah stepped forward, his every move screaming out his disappointment. How dare he judge her! This was all his fault, if he'd just killed Klaus like he'd promised he would none of this would have ever happened.

"Miss Gilbert, how do you see Caroline? What do you really think of her?"

"I think of Caroline as Caroline. She's always been the same and will probably never change. She cares about some of the most vapid and shallow things, even when we're all hip deep in the latest problem **you've** created. Even with everything that's going on she's still got all those committees and parties like nothing's changed. Because she hasn't changed." She stressed the you hoping to convey, at least to some degree, just how angry she was with him at the moment. Not that it would do her much good, but it would make her feel better which was pretty much all she could hope for at the moment.

"You mean with everything that's going on with **you**. Most of these problem's you've been referring to are your problems, and the only reason it even involves anyone else is because they circle around you to try and protect you. If Caroline hadn't tried to shield you from everything you couldn't handle it's more than likely that no one would have ever really bothered her. Katerina and Damon never would have gone after her. My brother would have most likely never even met her. If it hadn't been for you and your problems Caroline Forbes would have been able to go on with her life blissfully ignorant of the supernatural."

No! It wasn't her fault. She was the victim her, a victim of her damn DNA, she hadn't caused any of this. It was all them! Watching Klaus take a step towards her brought her out of her head and back into reality. It wasn't over yet.

"So doppelgänger, we are at the end of your little Q and A session, and I have to tell you it's not looking good for you dearie. We'll press on though, so tell me, have you ever hurt Caroline in any way?"

"Yes." It would have been an easier question to ask who hadn't hurt Caroline.

"How?"

"I've ignored her safetyand well being for the sake of my own happiness. I knew what Damon was doing to her and while I confronted him about it once when I first found out after that I just let it go because he made me happy. I used our friendship and Caroline's need to belong to guilt her into doing things that best served me and my needs, but that I knew she would never do if left on her own. Like playing the blonde distraction for you. I've placed her in harms way again and again without thought or regard for the consequences for anyone but myself." Like she was so different from everyone else, looking out for yourself was just human nature. Was it her fault that Caroline was so bad at it?

"Really, that was quite the confession for you. Now then Caroline it's your turn, do you forgive Elena? Yes or no, love?"

Caroline's head was spinning. How could Elena say those things about her? They were best friends, weren't they? Did she forgive her. Could she forgive her, for thinking she was some sort of stupid, shallow, disposable pawn? Like a stupid Barbie stuck forever, unmoving and unchanging. Why hadn't she seen any of these things before? How had Klaus and his family seen it? Because now there really was no doubt in her mind that they'd already known the majority of the answers before they ever even asked the questions. Was she really so blind?

Could she forgive her?

"No."

"Excellent love."

Bonnie was in shock. She wanted to be angry at Caroline for not forgiving Elena, they were all best friends after all, but she couldn't help but wonder if she would be forgiving herself if her friends had done so much to her. She didn't think she would.

"Alright then miss-y Bennett, your turn." Oh, God. Bonnie let her eyes slide closed for just a moment in silent prayer before she lifted her head and looked right into Rebekah's eyes. If she was about to be sent to her end she would do it with as much dignity as she could.

"Good for you darling. Now tell me, are you a good friend?" What? What kind of question is that?

"No." What? She was a good friend, wasn't she? She always helped Elena! Oh.

"Why?" Of course Rebekah was going to make her say it.

"Because, I always seem to put one friend above the other, and that one friend lately seems to always be Elena."

"Now that we've gotten that all cleared up, let's try this one. How did you react to Caroline becoming a vampire?" Damn Kol, why was he bringing that up?

"I was angry, shocked, but mostly angry. I thought about killing her before she could become something like Damon. I was eventually convinced by Stefan to give her a daylight ring to try and help her, but I let her know that when she eventually became the monster I knew she would be I would remove that power and let her burn." She still felt guilty for that now, after seeing the kind of vampire Caroline had become. She now knew she never had anything to worry about.

"Now for the important part. Would you have reacted the same way if it had been your _precious_ Elena who'd ended up with a pair of fangs." He thought he'd found a way to prove that she cared more about Elena than for Caroline, jokes on him though because she already knew the answer to this question with her whole heart.

"At the time yes, now, I wouldn't react the same way to any of my friends becoming vampires. When Caroline turned I already hated vampires for all kinds of reasons, I didn't see them as anything other than killers, I have since learned better." That was true, she had learned better, and it was all because of Caroline.

"What made you change your mind?" Caroline.

"Caroline. Before her the only vampires I'd seen were like Damon, they enjoyed inflicting pain on others and had no remorse for the lives they'd taken. Caroline was different and she showed me that vampires could be different if they were strong enough to try. When Caroline became a vampire she didn't become a monster, she just became more... Caroline." There really was no other way to describe her, she was a world apart from anyone else they knew.

"Good answer. Elijah your turn." She didn't know why but the praise for her answer made her relax a fraction, like maybe the outcome of this little interrogation game wouldn't be so bad after all. Watching Elijah take a step forward she decided to shake it off and turn her mind to what was coming instead.

"How do you really feel about Caroline Forbes?"

"I think Caroline is a force of nature. I think she is a better friend to us than any of us have been to her in a long time. Caroline is ... Caroline." Her words seemed to echo Elena's but everyone could hear the difference in them, the emotion behind them.

"Now for my question, have you ever harmed Caroline in any way?" Had she? Most likely, it seemed like nearly all of them had harmed Caroline in one way or another. Honestly, she couldn't understand why Caroline even spoke to them anymore let alone helped them as often as she did.

"Yes."

"How?" Taking a deep breath she began to answer as best she could.

"I have sided with others against her constantly. I've let my hatred of vampires in general color my actions where she is concerned. I haven't looked out for her as I should have, as I've looked out for the others. I basically abandoned her after she became what she is now, I rationalized it to myself, saying that she was a vampire now so she didn't need my help like Elena or the others did, but in reality it was just that I didn't want to be there when she finally became the monster I thought she would inevitably be. I wanted her to still be the same Caroline who somehow managed to bake me a four layer birthday cake in her easybake oven."

"Alright then love, time for your answers. Yes or no?"

Caroline didn't know how she felt about Bonnie. One minute she was ignoring her and siding with everyone else and the next she was defending her and saying all of these really nice things. She knew that Bonnie meant everything she said, there was no way she could lie right now, but did that mean she forgave her for everything else? Could she forgive Bonnie?

"Yes."

"Very well then love, it's time for another break. That seemed to be a bit draining for all of you. I'll see you lot in the morning." As they watched all the originals leave they all knew what came next. When the sun rose their punishments would begin.

**A/N - Three chapters left until we reach the end of the original plot. Next chapter we'll see the Originals themselves having to answer Elijah's question, Caroline will have to give some answers of her own, plus a flashback. After that will be the punishment chapter and then the Epilogue where you'll see everyone a week or so later to see how everyone's coping with what happened. I've had some requests to continue it after the game and I might or maybe I'll have that be a sequel. Either way I'm not done with them yet.**


	8. Final Round

**A/N - Sorry for the long wait, every time I sat down to write this chapter I couldn't get the wording right so I moved on to other projects and came back to it after I had time to think it through a little better, and here we are. Hope you enjoy it.**

Klaus sat in his room waiting for day break. He'd given them all the night to come to terms with what was coming, not that any of them knew for certain what awaited them, but he'd still given their little minds time to wonder. It would all be over after today, then they could all move on with their lives and start moving towards the next stage. He kept thinking over and over again how this game had come to be. It hadn't even been his idea, Kol had been the one to suggest it with a little help from Rebekah. It still amazed him just how quickly his family had welcomed the idea of Caroline becoming a member.

_One Month Ago_

_Klaus settled himself in the living room and waited for his siblings to arrive. Elijah had been a little suspicious at first, until he proved that he was indeed their brother, now he was simply curious. As he always was when he changed hosts._

_"What's with the witch costume brother, not your usual style." _

_"Hello to you to Kol. Now that you're all here I shall explain. I've had reason to believe recently that the doppelgänger and her little group of friends had been once more plotting against us. This, witch costume, as you put it was my way of knowing for certain one way or the other. I took Bonnie's place at their initial planning party a few days ago. Now that I know more, here I am."_

_"What have you found out brother?" Ah, Elijah always right to the point._

_"Better question, why do we even care? It's not like they can truly hurt us." Rebekah snarked, her usual bravado shining through._

_Klaus decided against pointing out just how easily they had hurt Finn, he knew that wasn't what she was referring to. She was referring to the fact that they no longer possessed the only weapon that could hurt them._

_"You are forgetting a few things sister."_

_"Like what?"_

_"Such as the fact that they don't have to kill any of us, merely contain us, much as the elder Bennett did with Mikael years ago."_

_"True, but are they after us? Or are they simply after you?" Rebekah countered, knowing full well what the answer was likely to be._

_"They are after me, but I believe that after I tell you all that I have learned thus far, you will be more than eager to help me."_

_They all sat through is explanation, his description of Caroline and how well she seemed to know them all, but more importantly her assessment about how they felt about one another. There was silence throughout, and once his words stopped his siblings seemed to simply wander away for a time to think. He didn't begrudge them the solitude, he knew he'd needed it just as badly after everything Caroline had said to him, he understood what they were doing and he was happy to wait for them to come to the same conclusion that he had. Caroline was one of them, always and forever._

_Elijah was of course the first to return._

_"Are you sure Niklaus?" He didn't have to ask him to clarify he understood exactly what he was asking._

_"She knows us better than I believe we even know each other."_

_"How is that possible?"_

_"I wasn't sure at first, but I think I understand now. It's preconceptions you see. We can no longer see each other clearly because past actions and mistakes block our view of one another. Caroline has none of that baggage weighting her down, she sees only who we are now."_

That had been true, a truth that they had all come to themselves over the intervening weeks. Kol had needed time to see it clearly and Rebekah had needed Kol, but in the end they all came to the same conclusion. Caroline was a Mikaelson now, she was family.

It had taken a little getting used to, the idea of caring about another someone who hadn't been with them from the beginning, but the idea had grown on them. Klaus had taken time each day to tell them each more and more about Caroline, her life and experiences, helping them to understand her as well as she obviously understood them.

Rebekah soon let go of her old animosity towards the woman that was now her sister. She saw their similarities in a new glaring light and she couldn't wait until that feeling was shared.

Kol saw her as two things. To him she was an opportunity to no longer be the the youngest, an opportunity to be a big brother to someone again. He'd thrown himself into the role with vigor, taking exception to anything negative said against her, if it was said out of true spite. He mostly ignored Rebekah's playful barbs, seeing them for the affectionate gesture they were. She was also the chance to start again. She was a clean slate for all of them, a new beginning. As they taught her everything that they knew they could experience it all over again and maybe this time they could get it right.

Elijah saw her as their second chance to be a family again. She would be the calming presence that might keep them from imploding again. She was a new hope, but at the same time he saw her for who she was. A baby vampire who need guidance and aide. A girl who needed people who wouldn't manipulate and guilt her into doing what they thought was best. People who would listen to her, she needed them as much as they needed her.

Klaus only ever saw her as Caroline, and for him that was more than enough.

Now it was time for this game to reach its conclusion so they could move on and start again.

Elijah stood in the center of the room, barely a foot separating him from Caroline. Niklaus of course had taken up his now customary position at her back, while Rebekah and Kol stood on either side of her. She was surrounded by his family on all sides and yet she did not waver, her gaze held his steadily, and he knew then more than before that she was always meant to walk beside them. She was a part of their family already, now it was only a matter of helping her see it.

"Don't worry, we're nearly done now. This will all be over by the end of the day today. Just a few more answers to be given before we continue."

They all froze, most likely trying to prepare themselves for what they believed was coming next, it was entertaining to watch.

"Kol."

"Yes, Elijah?" His brothers tone was as mocking as ever. He'd long since given up on getting the proper respect from him.

"Tell me, what do you think of Caroline Forbes?"

"I didn't think anything of her at first, to me she was just this little blonde baby vamp that my brother was making a fool of himself over. I would watch Nik chase after her through a crowd and find it entertaining, but other than that she never truly registered with me. Until Nik came to us a few weeks ago and told us just how well she understood our family. After I realized she understood me I started thinking about her, trying to put us on an even standing more than anything, if someone understands my motivations and actions so well I want to understand theirs. It was only after I started actively recalling her and thinking about what she's done that I started to truly form an opinion of her. I think Caroline Forbes is one of the bravest people I've ever met. Human, vampire, werewolf, or witch. She tops them all."

Kol thought she was brave? No one ever thought she was brave. Stupid, occasionally, but never brave.

"Why do you feel that way Kol?"

"Because I've known centuries old vampires, and power mad witches alike who would quake in fear at the idea of turning their back on our brother. For most people turning your back on Nik means you don't see the attack coming in time, because make no mistake if anyone else had done what she had they would have been attacked. At first I thought she'd done it because she was counting on his infatuation with her to keep her safe, to keep to worst of his anger at bay. Then I remembered the look in her eyes as she turned from him in the bar, she'd been acting as a distraction for him so that her friends could dagger me, and at the time I hadn't even registered the emotion in her eyes. I had been to busy laughing at Niks desperate attempts to gain her attentions. Later while I thought about her I finally placed it, it was resignation mixed with fear."

That was true, she had been resigned to being a part of the plan, and back then she'd always been at least a little afraid every time she played the distraction for Klaus.

"She fully expected Nik to attack her that night, and she'd known that when it happened there would be nothing she could do to defend herself. Yet, she was determined to play her part, even if it ended up killing her. That is bravery."

Caroline was stunned, how could Kol think so highly of her? All she'd ever really done was try and trick or kill him and his family. How could he think more of her than most of her friends?That had to be one of the nicest things anyone had ever said about her. She doubted anyone, other than her mother, ever thought of her as brave or really anything truly positive for a long time now. She was never the strong one, not really, she was always just Caroline. Maybe that was part of the problem, all of her friends had known her for so long that they couldn't see the new her as clearly as others could.

"Rebekah, tell me, what do you think of Caroline Forbes?"

"I hated Caroline from the moment I met her. She was this little baby vampire surrounded by family and friends, nothing about her life had seemed to change by her transformation. She had a control that not only rivaled my own, but surpassed it. She was everything that I wanted to be, she had the life that I wanted but could never seem to hold on to, and I hated her for it. I tried to take her place, to usurp her title as Queen Caroline, I joined every committee and overtook the cheerleading team. I did everything I saw her do, but I did it better, but she was still better than me. She still had her family, Matt, Stefan, everything. The whole school looked up to her and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't surpass her as I wanted."

Caroline was speechless, not that talking was even an option at them moment. Wow, that wasn't anywhere near as nice, but at the same time it was. It might not have been a glowing review, but at least it was honest. She could handle someone hating her, especially for those reasons that she understood so well. She'd hated Elena for nearly the same reasons herself not to long ago after all. Until she became a vampire and had seen just how petty and short sighted her hatred was. When Rebekah cleared her throat, preparing to speak again, she realized that she wasn't done, she still had more to say.

"It was only after I stopped trying to be her that I saw her life for what it was, a mirage. The school still adored her because they didn't know what she had become. Her family was fractured, with only her mother still remaining by her side, and even she had taken time to come around. She had the boys I liked in her life, but they didn't treat her like I thought they did, they treated her like she wasn't a Queen but a pawn. Someone whose support they relied on but to whom they gave nothing in return. After that I didn't want her life anymore because I already had it. She and I were so similar it hurt to even look at her. So then my feelings shifted slightly and I started hating her for that."

Hmm, when Rebekah found an emotion she liked she clung to it. She could relate, it was so much easier to stick with first impressions, changing what you thought or felt about someone was harder than just keeping steady.

"It was only after Nik came to us recently and told us some things about her that my feelings and views began to change. Even then it was Kol that made me see through my hatred to what I truly felt for her. I admire Caroline Forbes, because no matter how similar our lives are, practically mirror image in places one thing will always be different. How we deal with those things in our lives. I have never had her control, her attitude, about all the twists and turns my life takes. I still want to be just like Caroline Forbes, I probably always will, but now I don't want her life because we already share it in many ways. Now I want her, oh I don't know, I just want to be able to handle things with the confidence and grace that she possesses. Hopefully someday I will."

Caroline didn't know how to take that. No one had ever really admired her before, at least not in the same way that Rebekah was admitting to anyway. Plenty of people had admired her for shallow reasons, wanting her style or her organizational skills, but no one had ever really wanted to be like her before. She'd never been enviable before, that had always been other people. To think that Rebekah wanted to be like her, it was mind boggling.

"Klaus, what do you think about Caroline Forbes?"

Here we go, more empty flattery and exposition about her light.

"I think that Caroline is the best person I have ever known. She sees a goodness in me that no one had even bothered to try and look for, beyond my family, for at least five hundred years if not longer. Everyone sees the monster, and make no mistake I am a monster, but she sees something more. She sees potential in me, a chance for me to be something more than just what I have become. I think Caroline Forbes is the light that shines in all the dark places of another's soul. Her humanity and compassion shine so bright that she makes the worst of us think that maybe we could find a glimmer of it somewhere buried deep within ourselves. She makes us think that maybe we could be saved, with her as our savior."

Or not. This she could believe, this was real. It was truth, it was his truth. He felt about her how she'd once felt about Matt. When she'd first been turned she'd thought that Matt's humanity could keep her human, keep her grounded, she'd been wrong. She didn't need him to stay who she was, but his presence did help. Did her presence help Klaus? She'd helped Stefan to keep his control, could she help Klaus find his humanity? Did she want to?

"Now let me tell you what I think of Caroline Forbes. I think that you are all of those things and so much more. I think that you are brave, loyal, and compassionate. I think you are filled with a grace and poise that has been gone from this world for many years, and that you deserve to be treated as the Queen that you are. I think that you see the best in everyone, even those that others have written off a being without hope of redemption, and I think you do so without conscious thought. I think that you, Caroline Forbes, are the personification of the best parts of us all."

Caroline couldn't stop the tears that were rolling down her face. No one in her life, besides her parents had ever seen her like they did. Even her dad had stopped seeing her that way after she became a vampire. They thought she was strong, beautiful, and amazing. They thought of her what everyone else always thought of Elena.

"Now Caroline we have one question for you to answer, but you will answer it about everyone here."

She pulled herself together, Elijah gave her a moment to stop her tears, and she nodded when she was ready to continue.

"Caroline, what do you think of Alaric Saltzman?"

"I think that Ric is an amazing man. He's a good teacher, and a good role model. Sure he lost his way for a little while when Jenna died, but who wouldn't. The important thing is that he found his way back again. He's brave, fighting vampires when he's only human. Kind, he helped out Elena and Jeremy after Jenna died even though he didn't have to, he didn't owe them anything. And just an all around good guy. This was never really his fight, after he found out that Damon was the vampire that turned Isobel his reason for coming to Mystic Falls was over, he didn't have to stick around and help us but he did anyway. He did it, for no other reason than because to him it was the right thing to do."

Alaric had to blink back the tears that threatened to fall. He'd always thought highly of Caroline but to hear that she thought just as highly of him was a surprise. He'd thought he'd pretty much tanked any true respect she and the others had for him after his little break down after Jenna died. He'd drank to much and didn't set any boundaries for Elena or Jeremy, he'd been lucky he'd managed to keep his job through the whole mess.

"Caroline, what do you think of Matt Donovan?"

"Matt is the sweetest guy in Mystic Falls. He treats everyone pretty much the same, no matter who they are. He thinks that everyone is deserving of respect until they do something to lose it, and even then he always feels that everyone has the right to earn back what they've lost. I've never seen him hold a grudge for very long against anyone besides Damon, who let's face it totally deserves it. Matt is loyal and kind almost to a fault. I can't help thinking that his life would be better if he were a little more selfish, if he was he would have left Mystic Falls by now and never come back. The only thing left for him here besides painful memories and an even more painful future is us, and I don't think that should be enough to ruin his life."

Matt couldn't believe what he was hearing. Caroline thought he was such a good guy, but she was wrong about one thing. They were worth every bit of it, every bad memory, and every new terrifying situation. Did he wish his sister was still around? Of course he did, but that didn't mean that what he had left wasn't worth fighting for, that she wasn't worth fighting for. Because she was.

"Caroline what do you think of Tyler Lockwood?"

"Tyler is a jackass, but then again he's pretty much always been one. I thought he was a good person, or at least well on his way to becoming one for a little while there, but turns out I was wrong."

Tyler kept his eyes down, he couldn't bring himself to look at Caroline because he knew she was right. He was scum for doing what he did to her, he only hoped he had the chance to make it up to her one day. Or that he even had another day, ever.

"Caroline what do you think of Jeremy Gilbert?"

"I've known Jeremy since we were all little, he's always just been Elena's little brother. Then like overnight, when we weren't looking he grew up. He became a friend, a boyfriend, a hunter all these things. Now he's not just little Gilbert, he's Jeremy. He's still easily talked into doing things he shouldn't, and he still gets angry too quickly, but that's what growing up's about learning how to not do those things you used to do. He's been growing up while no one was looking and I think he's done a good job of it all on his own."

Jeremy didn't know what to think. He'd only ever been Elena's little brother, he didn't know that anyone besides Bonnie had noticed him becoming anything else. The fact that Caroline had noticed him while he'd pretty much dismissed her made him feel less like the young man he was slowly becoming and more like the boy he used to be.

"Caroline, what do you think of Stefan Salvatore?"

"Stefan helped me when no one else would. When I became a vampire all anyone else wanted to do was kill me or minimize the damage I was going to do. Stefan was the only one who actually explained everything to me. He told me I wasn't a monster and that I was still me, I was just more of me. He has issues of his own, god does he have issues, but through it all he's still a good person. Even when he's been a monumental pain in the ass, or moping about something he still does everything he can to help his friends. Stefan is one of the best friends you could ever have, because he doesn't judge you or anything, he just helps you."

Stefan didn't know what he'd been expecting but that hadn't been it. Usually when people talked about him they talked about his being a ripper and having zero control, but Caroline hadn't, not really. She talked about friendship, she talked about caring enough to try. Now that he thought about it he shouldn't have expected anything else from Caroline.

"Caroline, what do you think of Damon Salvatore?"

"Devil spawn." That was it, there was nothing more to say. Damon Salvatore equals devil spawn, always had and in her opinion always would.

Damon figured that was progress, used to be she said that calling him the spawn of Satan was an insult to Satan. He was growing on her.

"Moving on then, Caroline, what do you think of Elena Gilbert?"

"Elena has been my friend for a long time, but we've never really been friends exactly. We were for a little while when we were younger Elena, Bonnie and I were inseparable. Then life started getting in the way, I started getting insecure and Elena started getting full of herself. Everything had to be about Elena, or for Elena, or because of Elena. After a while we were friends more because everyone thought we were than because of any true affection between us, with Bonnie as a bit of a common ground buffer zone. In fact we were practically frenemies towards the end of my human days. Even now, that hasn't really changed, everyones world must revolved around Elena or the whole universe will implode. I care about what happens to her, and I would never wish her harm, but she just isn't the center of my world anymore."

Elena wanted to yell at Caroline to take it back. To say it wasn't true, but she couldn't. So she contented herself with the knowledge that she knew it wasn't true. Just because Caroline said it, that was her opinion nothing more.

"Caroline, what do you think of Bonnie Bennett?"

"Bonnie has been my best friend for our whole lives. She was the rope in my tug-a-war with Elena, but she always cared about me. Even when I was a vampire and she hated everything about me, I still saw how much she cared. If she didn't she wouldn't have helped me no matter what Stefan had said. She's like this ultra powerful witch, but she's still the same Bonnie who always had faith in me, even when she thought I was being ridiculous."

Bonnie could barely breathe she felt so low. She'd been spending so much time and energy worry about and trying to help out Elena that she'd pushed Caroline to the side without a thought. She really wasn't a good friend, she hoped that Caroline knew how sorry she was.

"Caroline, what do you think of Kol Mikaelson?"

"Kol is a lot like Klaus, in fact I always think of him as mini-Klaus or Klaus jr., he's contrary just for the fun of getting a reaction. He's a little boy who never grew up, because he didn't have to. People grow up so they can survive one thing or another, but Kol became an Original before that really became and issue for him, then he could survive anything just the way he was. Life didn't matter much to him anymore, the danger and thrill was gone, so he turned everything into a game as a way of making it fun again. I think he could be a hell of a man if he could just stop being such a little boy first."

Kol was taken aback by her answer, she really did know them. Having her as a member of the family would be so much fun, he could tell.

"Caroline, what do you think of Rebekah Mikaelson?"

"Rebekah is a lot like me, she thinks that if she can find one person who'll love her unconditionally, in that way that everyone always talks about then she'll never be alone. Like me though she's never truly been in love, not really, because she doesn't love herself enough to love anyone else yet. She's in love with being in love, she's in love with that first love feeling, that rush that comes when you find someone who wants to be with you despite your flaws. I would bet she's never really been alone. She's always had family or someone by her side for her whole life, so she's never had the time or space to find herself, to love herself, to see herself through her own eyes rather than what's reflected back from the person across from her. I think Rebekah has a lot to love to give, she just hasn't figured out how to give it yet, or who to give it to."

Rebekah was almost vindicated to realize that she was right. She and Caroline were alike, being on the same side as her for once would definitely be an interesting adventure.

"Caroline, what do you think of Elijah Mikaelson?"

"Elijah is a man of honor, but only when it suits him to be. He makes his deals always making sure to word it just right to leave himself a loophole, an out, for that inevitable moment when having honor doesn't serve him anymore. Then as he wipes the blood off his hands he consoles himself by say that he obeyed the deal so his honor is still intact. I think he would be happier if he just let his old ideas of honor go and simply said what he meant straight out. How hard would it be to make a deal that says I'll help you until it's no longer in my best interests to do so, that's a deal I bet he could keep. I'm not saying he doesn't have honor, hell he's probably the most honorable person I've ever met, I just think he would be happy if he was less honorable and more honest. Honest with the people he makes deals with, honest with his family, and most of all honest with himself. I think he lies to himself most of all, every time he tells himself that he's happy and that family is enough for him when he obviously wants love as much as Rebekah does."

Elijah hadn't met anyone who'd understood him so absolutely, and so quickly, in the whole of his life. She saw through all of his misdirections and deals to the man beneath, he didn't know if he liked it or not. Only time would tell really.

"Caroline, what do you think of Niklaus Mikaelson?"

"Klaus... Klaus is pretty much himself. What you see is nearly always what you get. I think if he was still human he might be a bit bi-polar, but I think in spite of it all he's still a good person. Everything he's done, no matter how bad, has had a good reason behind it. Maybe not a justifiable one, but there was still always something there. He wanted to do the sacrifice so he could be whole again, he wanted Elena's blood so he could make more like him so he wouldn't be alone and so that when his family eventually found out the truth about Ester and left him like he thought they would he would have another family to surround himself with. I think Klaus doesn't love himself any more than the rest of his family does, all of them could benefit from a freaking supernatural therapist, and that what he wants and needs more than anything is to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he belongs somewhere."

Klaus hadn't thought she'd understood why he'd been so obsessed with his hybrids but he should have guessed that she would. She understood him better than anyone else ever had, including his family. She saw him, saw them all, clearly and she still thought there was hope for them. She still thought they could be redeemed. Now he thought it too, with her help.

**A/N - So that's it for this chapter. Two left the punishment and the epilogue. Drop me a line and let me know what you thought. I tried to keep everyone as in character as I could, but I might have strayed off course a time or two. I thought about having Elijah ask Caroline what she thought of herself, but then I decided that Caroline's self esteem issues would be better as a part of the sequel.**


	9. Consequences

**A/N - This chapter was so hard to write. I had to come up with punishments that fit with what they'd confessed, took into account if they were forgiven or not, and weren't so horrible or bloody that Caroline wouldn't be able to forgive them or even understand them later on in the sequel. So I went with more mental torture than physical. Hope you enjoy it.**

Klaus finally moved from behind Caroline, it was time to take center stage again for the finale. This was almost done, and when it was all over they would be moving forward into the next stage of their lives, of their family.

"Now that all the questions have been asked and answered, there is only one more that requires a response before the consequences are handed down. This one will be for you Caroline, again it will be a yes or no response, and it will effect the severity of the punishments handed down today."

Caroline nodded her head showing that she understood. She was a little in the dark about what else they could possibly ask her, but if answering could help her friends then she could only prey that it went their way. This would be the only help she could give them today.

"Caroline when this game is over my family and I would like you to agree to live with us for a year. You would stay here at the house with us and you would get to know us as we would get to know you. During this time you would not under any circumstances plot against us, or attempt to kill us. Do you agree?"

They wanted her to live with them? They wanted to get to know her better? She didn't understand what this new game was they were playing, but if it would help her friends she would play along. She was a vampire after all, she had an eternity ahead of her, she could sacrifice a year.

"I agree."

"Wonderful love. In that case these punishments will be corrective rather than lethal."

They weren't going to kill anyone. She nearly went boneless in relief at that revelation. Glancing around the room she saw the same relief overtake the others as well. She'd saved their lives simply by agreeing to live with them for a year. She didn't know what to think, except, what the hell was the year going to hold for her? She understood them all sure, but that didn't exactly fill her with confidence. She understood that they were above all volatile, unstable, and homicidal. This did not bode well for her.

Seeing the originals move away to encircle Alaric, most likely to hand down his punishment in a theatrical and melodramatic fashion she understood that her part in this game was over and done with. Deciding the coming year could wait one more day, she concentrated on what was going on around her so that she wouldn't miss what was being done to her friends. Just because they weren't going to die, that didn't mean they would be getting off lightly. Not when the Mikaelsons were handing down judgment.

Alaric waited for one of them to speak, they were just starring at him, like they were weighing their options. Assessing his worth. He knew that wasn't the case, they'd known what they were going to do to all of them before the first round even began, this was for show, this was for his benefit and their entertainment. He would not flinch, why give them the satisfaction of seeing him sweat. They already said it wouldn't be lethal and there wasn't anything he could do to change it either. Lifting his chin he looked Klaus straight in the eyes.

"Good on you mate. You admire Caroline's bravery but it looks like you have a steady supply of that yourself." Klaus smiled, and it actually looked friendly, that un-nerved him more than anything else ever could.

"Yes of course he does brother, he was a hunter after all. No, what he lacks is her loyalty." Rebekah countered. What were they up to?

"Well, we can fix that can't we."

"Of course we can. Kol, would you please do the honors."

"With pleasure."

Kol stepped forward and looked into his eyes, it wasn't until they began to dilate and the compulsion started to take hold that he remembered just how long they'd been down there. All the vervain would have run its course by now, they were all vulnerable to compulsion and it looked like that had been the intent all along. That was why they had drawn the game out to make it last so long, it wasn't for the nerve racking suspense, it was because the vervain needed time to work its way out of their systems. He only preyed they wouldn't make him do anything he would regret for the rest of his days, however many there may be of them.

"You applaud Carolines loyalty so much from now on you will show that same loyalty to her, and only her. She will have it above all others in your life, when it comes down to a choice between her and another you will always choose her, because your loyalty will be that absolute. Do you understand?"

"I do." As broke his gaze away he felt his emotions begin to shift inside of him, he felt his need to be there for Caroline intensify. He'd already decided to be a better friend to her, if he got the chance after this, but this was beyond even that. He knew now beyond a shadow of a doubt that Caroline Forbes was now the most important person in his life.

It was slightly horrifying to have his emotions manipulated like that, but at the same time he knew that if this was all the originals were going to do to him, he got off easy. He'd heard horror stories ever since they'd come to Mystic Falls about from one supernatural creature or another about what happens to people who cross them like they had tried to. This was very mild in comparison. He only hoped they were set free before they changed their minds about it.

As they moved away to surround Matt he let his head fall back against the wall behind him and closed his eyes to listen. He couldn't watch, seeing the most powerful vampires in existence circle around the people he cared about like sharks scenting blood would drive him out of his mind. No, he would listen and prey that they remained lenient towards them all. Though he already knew that their mercy wasn't likely to extend to everyone. They just weren't that lucky, and Caroline hadn't forgiven everyone, after all.

"Matt Donovan, setting aside the fact that you were the one that killed our dear brother Finn, you truly are a nice guy aren't you." Klaus began, even though he didn't seem all that broken up about Finn, he was still their family so there was always that chance that they would kill him for it promise to Caroline be damned.

Matt tried not to react to the mention of Finn, he still had nightmares about that, and its consequences. They'd asked him to help kill one vampire, not hundreds, he kept dreaming about a vampire like Caroline minding their own business one day just to fall down dead because of his actions a world away in Mystic Falls.

"However, you also seem to have a bit of a loyalty problem. Yours is divided among too many people so we're going to help you with that. Not to mention your little propensity to spill others secrets for the greater good, as you see fit. That just won't do at all, we'll have to fix that little character flaw of yours. Rebekah would you like the honors this time."

"Why thank you dear brother I would. Don't worry Matt we also have a special surprise for you, a gift really. I think it will help you with a lot of your issues. Think of it as therapy, vampire edition. "

Catching his gaze her eyes began to dilate as her power overtook his mind.

"Matt, you will protect Carolines secrets from anyone and everyone who isn't an original. Your loyalty to her will be absolute, placing her above the rest of your friends until your dying day. Now for your gift, you will have a hand in Damons punishment, a way for you to work out your aggression towards him. Do you understand?"

"I understand." He did understand. While he felt his emotions shift and his resolve to punish Damon solidify, something else clicked into place for him as well. The Originals thought of Caroline as family. At first he'd thought they were doing this because they supported Klaus's little obsession with her, or because they realized how well she understood them somehow, but that wasn't it at all. Or at least that wasn't all of it.

To them she was already their sister, they were just waiting for her to realize it like they had, which was what that year was about. They were going to treat her like family, because to them that's what she was now. With that revelation all the worry and doubt he'd held about their plans for Caroline over the next year dissolved. Because no matter what else they were to each other, they valued family above everything else. There _punishments_ showed that more than anything else ever could have.

Tyler watched as each original took up a place around him. He'd been dreading this moment and now it was here. What would they do to him?

"I'll do this one Elijah if you don't mind."

"Not at all Kol, he's all yours." Wonderful sid vicious was to be his executioner.

"Listen close pet, your life is about to change." He felt his compulsion weave its self through his mind and panic tried to set it, but it couldn't because he was no longer in control. He remembered this feeling and he hated it even more now than ever before.

"You serve your own interests so wonderfully, I think its time you served something else instead. Us. From this moment forward your life will be one of servitude to the Original family and to Caroline. Every suggestion will be treated like an order once it's given, you won't be able to stop yourself from compliance. You will serve us all as your sire bond dictates that you serve Nik. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Yeah, he understood alright, now he was everyones little bitch. As he watched them move on to Jeremy he tried to feel some sympathy for him, he wasn't likely to get off much easier than he had, but he just couldn't muster up the emotions necessary. He was numb.

Jeremy kept his eyes closed, not wanting his mind invaded by these monsters. Even after he felt someone moving closer and kneeling down to be at eye level, he refused to open them. He would not just submit to this, his mind was his, he wouldn't let them take it over. A surprise blow to his face had his eyes opening of their own volition, searching for the threat, for the next hit. It was only for a few seconds but that was all it took for Klaus's gaze to capture his own.

"You think that being a human bloodbag is the worst fate that can befall a person, so now you'll share it. You will offer your blood to Caroline at any time you see that she might be hungry, it's up to her whether or not she accepts the offer, but you will make it. If she does accept then you will gladly follow through. Since you seem to dismiss Caroline from your thoughts so easily so will now be the center of them. Her safety and well being will be the focus of your world, thoughts of her will consume you, as thoughts of revenge against us once did. Do you understand?"

"I understand." That was it, a few seconds and his mind was overtaken and his life was destroyed.

Stefan had watched as his _friends _were systematically broken down and rebuilt as Klaus and his deranged siblings wanted them to be. He understood their game now, they couldn't really hurt most of them without Caroline never forgiving them so instead they were settling for psychological torture instead. They were messing with their minds, turning them into puppets whose strings they pulled. Caroline would still be upset by it sure, but as time passed and they all continued to live their lives, albeit with a few choice modifications to their behavior, she would begin to get over it. Maybe even forget about it. As plans went it was a fairly solid one.

Knowing there was no point in trying to evade or stop what was coming when Rebekah stepped up to him he simply looked into her eyes and waited for her power to wash over him.

"Good choice Stefan. Don't worry dear, yours is simple enough, you said yourself that you haven't been a good friend to Caroline so from now on you will be. You will be the best friend to her that you are able to be. No more phoning it in, you will take her side in all arguments and you will be there for her as you haven't been until now. Do you understand?"

"I understand." She had been right, his was a simple one. They were compelling him to do what he'd already sworn to himself he would do if given the chance. He chose to see the compulsion as a back up, insurance that he did what he meant to do by her for once, instead of meaning to do it then getting side tracked by something else.

Elena couldn't believe what she was hearing. The originals were compelling all of her friends within an inch of their sanity. Why would they do this? Oh yeah, she remembered why now, Caroline. If she ever took blood from Jeremy because of that stupid compulsion, she swore she would kill her herself.

As Elijah stepped up to her, she amended her plans, she'd kill her if she could. Who knew what was about to happen to her. Everyone else had gotten off relatively easily so far, but with her luck they'd simply kill her.

"Elena, you've repeatedly schemed and planned to get out of giving my brother your blood. Something he only asked for once a month, while he left you to live your life, yet you never saw the leniency in his actions. So now we will be doing things the way they should have been done all along. You will be locked up here in a special room we've made for you in the attic. You will never try to leave that room without one of us or Caroline with you, and we will take your blood as we need it. Do you understand?"

"I understand." She was being turned into a blood slave. How was that fair? All she ever wanted was to live her life without Klaus in it, how was that so wrong? Her only hope now was that Caroline would get her out of there, but she doubted that she would. The little traitor hadn't forgiven her before, why would she help her now.

Damon was furious, how could they do something like that to Elena. Blondie better not let that stand. They'd given her the way to save her friend, and she'd better take it at her first opportunity. Looking up he saw Klaus standing over him looking smug and pleased with himself. This couldn't end well for him.

"Damon, you are a disgusting sorry excuse for a vampire. Only someone without any self respect would compel others to sleep with them. You have tortured those closest to you for years now. Stefan, Alaric, Matt, and Caroline so now it's your turn. You will be locked away down here in this very room where my siblings and I, Caroline, and Matt will be using you as stress relief of sorts. Whenever the days events are just too frustrating we will come down here to pay you a visit and we will relieve that stress in any way we see fit. You will not be restrained but neither will you resist or attempt to leave this room without my permission. Oh, and should that poison tongue of yours wag too often, I will rip it out of your head daily until you learn to keep it still. Do you understand?"

"I understand." At least he and Elena would still be in the same house, if only at opposite ends of it. He could hold onto that if nothing else. There was no way Klaus would ever release him, he was going to be in this room until the day he died. This was all Carolines fault, if Klaus hadn't been so obsessed with her none of this would have happened.

Bonnie couldn't believe it. When this little game of theirs started she'd thought for sure that they would all be dead before it was over, but this. This was something she hadn't seen coming at all. She didn't know how to feel about this. Her friends weren't being killed, but they weren't exactly being let go either. Even the ones that weren't being kept here, trapped, like Elena and Damon were still going to be restrained by the originals in some way. These compulsions were a way of punishing them even after they were released and she dreaded to hear what hers was going to be.

Waiting wouldn't make it go away so she simply looked up at Kol and waited.

"You seem to place friendship above all, you just seem to be picking the wrong friends to back, so we're going to help you with that Bonnie. You will forget Elena Gilbert was a close friend. You and she used to be friends while she was on the cheer squad with you and Caroline but after she quit you lost touch. Caroline is your best friend."

She felt her memories begin to shift and change. Everything was still there, all the plans and stunts, the only change was to the reasons why she agreed to help. Elena was being taken from her and there was nothing she could do to stop or even slow it down. By the time her chains were released and she was being lead out of the house Elena Gilbert was just some girl she'd vaguely known before her parents died and she stopped being a cheerleader.

She wondered what Caroline was up to this weekend, maybe they could have a girls night.

**A/N - Well that's that, hope it wasn't a let down, I know the whole fic basically was leading up to this one chapter. It was only after I got to this chatper and started attempting to write it that I understood that I'd effectively tied my own hands on what I could do to them as punishments. So this was the best I could come up with. You'll see more of how it the compulsions and things effected everyones lives in the sequel that will deal with Carolines year living with the originals. Now on to the Epilogue.**


	10. Epilogue

Caroline looked up at her new temporary home from her car. She'd been sitting in the driveway trying to get up the courage to go inside for nearly an hour now. She knew that the Originals knew she was out there, but there were giving her space and time to work through this herself which she was beyond grateful for.

They had all been released a week ago, well everyone except Elena and Damon who were both still in there somewhere. Since then everything had changed. She'd been given a week to get all of her things in order, explain the new arrangements to her mom, just get her head on straight. She was thankful that they had given her so long, but at the same time she wished it had been far longer.

Convincing her mother, without the aide of any compulsion because she would never do that to her again, that this was fine was the hardest lie she ever told. She knew that her mom never really bought it, but at the same time after she explained everything she knew that her mom saw the consequences of non-compliance as well as she did. You don't just go back on your word once you've made a deal with an original, let alone when you've made a deal with all of the originals.

She would be living out the rest of her senior year and all of the following summer here with Klaus and his siblings. School was out on break right now so she still had another three days to adjust to her new living arrangements before she had to pour the stresses of school on top of it all. Joy. Like senior year wasn't already stressful enough. Plus the added stress of everyone now acting on the compulsions the jerks inside had so lovingly given to everyone.

Alaric was still pretty much the same as he'd always been, only with a lot less apathy now. It was strange to say it, but it seemed like the originals punishment had given Alaric back his life. Or at least his will to live it. He was engaging more instead of just phoning it in. So sure his new found interest in her and her life choices was a little annoying, but mostly because she wasn't used to people besides her mother really caring what she did or why she did it. Now nearly every day, at least once a day if not more, Alaric would question her about one thing or another. Apparently for him loyalty translated to taking an interest and looking out for her as best he could.

Matt still seemed a little apprehensive about his role in Damons punishment. None of the originals had been more specific when he'd asked about what it was exactly that he was going to be doing. All they told him was that after she moved in Matt was to come over once a week to do his part. At first he'd stressed about it to the point she was afraid he was going to give himself a stroke or an ulcer or something. It wasn't until she'd pointed out that there was no changing it, whatever it was, so what was the point of stressing that he'd calmed down some. She didn't know if she was going to ask him about it after his first session or not, she would just play it by ear after it happened.

Tyler was being more of a jackass than ever to everyone else around him. He didn't like the fact that he had to do everything she said, so he'd been avoiding her. That didn't stop people from telling her all about his latest escapades though. According to April he's been going around town ducking in and out of bars like he was hiding from someone. She supposed he was, or at least he was trying to. If he thought he could actually hide from Klaus and his siblings he would have to run a lot farther than some bars near enough to Mystic Falls for their classmates to know about it. Hell leaving Virginia probably wouldn't even be good enough. Klaus would simply have to call him and tell him to come back. She could have pointed that out to him, but since he was being such an ass he decided to let him figure it out all on his own. It shouldn't take more than another week for it to sink in.

Jeremy had already asked her three times while she was packing up her stuff, which she had lots of help with from her new loyal best friends, if she wanted some of his blood. Each time he asked he'd glare at her like he was daring her to take him up on the offer. Not that she ever would, everyone who knew her knew that she never fed from a vein. Too many bad memories. She didn't even think that the Originals thought she would take him up on it, it seemed more likely that his having to offer repeatedly to become what he hated most was his punishment.

Stefan was treating her like they were the best of friends. Where it used to be that he only called or showed up if one of them had a problem or he and Elena needed something now he was calling just to ask how she was doing. Or he was stopping by to see if she wanted to go do something. He was acting a lot like she and Matt used to before dating got in their way. He was acting like he actually cared.

Elena and Damon hadn't been seen or heard from since they'd all been released. This was met with varying degrees of emotion, because thanks to their new attitudes towards certain people in their lives, some of them just weren't capable of being as worried as they once would have been. It wasn't in them anymore to care what happened with them after they left that basement. She was caught somewhere in the middle. Yes, she was worried, they were her sort of friends after all. But a the same time, they had basically brought this on themselves, they had been the driving force behind the plan that had blown up in their faces resulting in the game that had trapped them where they were now. In either case, there really wasn't anything she could do about it right now, or any time soon, so she figured she had a nice long time to sort out her true emotions about it and figure out where she stood with the whole thing.

Bonnie was acting like she never had any other friends besides her. Not that she was acting like a pod person or anything, she was actually acting a lot like she used to before the supernatural invaded their lives. It was just strange seeing pre-witch Bonnie behavior coming from post-witch Bonnie. She kept trying to arrange a girls night with just the two of them and talking about their upcoming cheer competition. It was weird, but at the same time Bonnie seemed a lot less stressed out about life. She seemed to be just enjoying being a teenager again, so she had mixed emotions about the whole thing.

She didn't know what she was going to do, but she at least knew what her next step needed to be. She needed to get out of this car and actually go inside. Taking a deep breath she plastered on her resolve face and marched towards the front door. Just before she got to it, it swung open to reveal Klaus waiting for her.

"Hello love, glad to see you finally made it inside. I'll show you to your room."

**A/N – That's it the end of Party Plans. It's sequel tentatively titled Life Plans won't be up for a while I want to finish the works I already have in progress before I start anything else. Hope you enjoyed it until next time..**


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